3rd wave: Mumbai positivity rate shoots to whopping 7.6 %, experts warn of higher cases than 2nd wave

Sooner than anticipated the apprehensions about the third Covid-19 wave in the country are coming true. The city of Mumbai which was one of the worst affected cities during the first and second wave of Covid-19 recorded the positivity rate of a whopping 7.67 percent on Thursday. Going by the suddenly shot up positivity rate, public health experts are expecting a much higher daily count of Coronavirus cases than the second wave.

Out of over 46 tests conducted in the financial capital of the country on Thursday a total of 3555 samples were found to be positive for Coronavirus, the Indian Express reported. What makes the rise in the positivity rate even more shocking is the huge jump of about 3 percent from the positivity rate recorded on Wednesday which remained 4.84 percent. On Wednesday the total number of Coronavirus cases recorded in the city was 2,510 out of the total 51,843 tests that were conducted on the same day.

In line with the previous trends recorded in the city, the number of cases traced in Mumbai is contributing heavily to the increase in the overall COvid-19 count of the state. Out of the total 5368 Coronavirus cases registered in the state of Maharashtra on Thursday, about 66 percent came from Mumbai.

Pondering over the sudden increase in the daily positivity rate in the city, health experts have warned that the cases will shoot and surpass the level of the first and second wave. Dr Shashank Joshi, who is a member of the Covid-19 task force in the state, told the Indian Express that since the number of cases is doubling in less than 24 hours, the cases will definitely increase more than the second wave. Dr Joshi further said that hospitalisation along with fatality is however expected to be lesser than before. He further added that it is not the right time to keep our guard down.