Maharashtra seems to be high on political slugfest when the State is reeling under acute pandemic. The opposition party, by its pursuit of digging into the shortfall of the ruling party, has now alleged that the official figures in regard to the testing of Coronavirus in Mumbai have considerably dropped.

With over 77,000 confirmed cases till Thursday night, Maharashtra tops the chart among Indian states. Incidentally, the state capital bogged down by COVID-19 cases, alone accounting for nearly 20% of confirmed cases in India.

Currently, 83 laboratories functional in Maharashtra for diagnosis of COVID-19, include 49 state-run and 37 private labs. Out of 5,10,176 samples tested in these laboratories, 77,793 are reported positive for the infection until Thursday.

But, former chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging that the percentage of COVID-19 tests in Mumbai has halved.

"On 1st May, the total number of tests conducted in Mumbai was 56 % of the state numbers. On 31st May, the number came down to 27%. But on the other hand, the positivity percentage of patients at the beginning of May was 21% and by the third week, it has increased to 32 %. This means the infection is spreading rapidly. At this point, stagnating the number of tests way beyond capacity is not a good strategy," Fadnavis was reportedly quoted from the letter he wrote to Thackeray.

In the slugfest, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has categorically denied the allegations, saying they are ‘not based on facts’. To substantiate their refusal, the civic body says the difference in number between Mumbai and Maharashtra is because of the increased numbers of testing facilities in the rest of the State.

Earlier, there was a necessity to conduct two tests of a positive patient before they were discharged but the ICMR guidelines keep changing and as per the new guidelines, even one test is now sufficient, the BMC reportedly stated. According to the civic body, Mumbai has thus far conducted 2.12 lakh tests, which apparently deduce that the number per 10 lakh tests is 16,304. "This is not just the highest in Maharashtra, but also highest in the country," the BMC was reportedly quoted as saying.

Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik insists that every test is done in Maharashtra according to the guidelines of the ICMR and MHA.

In March, out of the total COVID-19 tests conducted in Maharashtra, 70-75 % was done in Mumbai.