It seems the Indian cities are competing in terms of COVID-19 positive cases.
Once a city worst-hit by COVID-19, Mumbai has now moved to second place outpaced by the national capital.
With 3,788 cases in a single day, Delhi touched the 70,000 mark for COVID-19 positive cases as of June 24, 2020.
While Mumbai reported 1,444 cases on the same day and the overall positive cases tally was 69,625.
According to the health authorities of both cities, Mumbai (28,653) has more active cases than Delhi (26,588).
While Delhi (41,437) has more recoveries compared to Mumbai (37,010).
The Delhi Government expects the number of positive cases in the city to cross 2.5 lakh mark by the mid of July and more than double to 5.5 lakh by the month-end.
Out of the total 70,000 cases, the national capital saw 40,000 of them in the last two weeks alone.
Source: covid19india.org
The sudden surge in Delhi’s number is majorly attributed to the marked rise in testing activity after the implementation of rapid antigen tests that show results in 30 minutes.
In the last 10 days, the number of tests/day has increased from 5-7 thousand cases in the last ten days.
Meanwhile, Mumbai is yet to witness full-fledged testing activity, currently at a low rate (4,000-4,500 tests per day).
However, the financial capital is now gearing up for more testing activity after the deployment of more than one lakh rapid antigen kits.
Mumbai is already facing criticism for not conducting proper testing. It is reportedly testing only primary contacts of the infected and those at maximum risk.
Upon proper testing, the number of cases in Mumbai would be far high, say the sources.
Delhi is planning to conduct door-door surveillance for early detection, while Mumbai is already doing that at a low scale.
Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh are the top-10 states accounting for the major share of the country’s overall tally.
