Amid the second wave of the pandemic sweeping across the country with hospitals overflowing with Covid-19 patients, health authorities in Mumbai breathed a sigh of relief as the city logged only 5,888 new coronavirus infections, its lowest daily rise since March 30.
According to officials, curbs imposed on public movement coupled with increased testing and exodus of migrant labourers may be responsible for the dip in the number of cases.
The development comes in the backdrop of the covis-19 active caseload in India surging to 25.52 lakh on Saturday as the country logged a record 3,46,786 new infections.
While India’s active cases comprise 15.37 per cent of the total infections, the national Covid-19 death toll rose to 1,89,544 with 2,624 new fatalities being reported on Saturday.
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Despite the massive rise in cases on a national level, Mumbaikars were in for some good news on Saturday as for the first time since April 12, when the city had reported 6,905 cases, the daily rise in infections in the country's financial capital fell below 7,000 on Saturday.
The caseload in the city stands at 6,22,109.
The city on March 30 had reported 4,758 Covid-19 cases, after which the figures had risen.
"Apart from increased testing and tracing and early isolation, the migration of over six lakh workers may have played a role in the reduction of numbers," said a senior civic official.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had given several hints that the state was considering the reintroduction of lockdown-like measures which prompted migrant labourers to leave the city, he added.
The Central and Western Railways had run almost 500 special trains in last some weeks and most of them ran at full capacity.
The fall in cases on Saturday also brought down the positivity rate from 18 per cent to 15 per cent compared to the last week.
The overall growth rate of cases in the city is 1.26 per cent.
On Saturday 8,549 patients were discharged after treatment, taking the tally of recoveries to 5,29,233.
"The strict lockdown-like measures further discouraged people from stepping out. The rising infections too must have persuaded some people to stay at home," the official said.
(With PTI inputs)
