Pune: The district administration in Pune on Wednesday said coronavirus cases in the region were likely to rise in the next few days, as testing will be ramped up at all affected zones.
At least 79 new cases were reported in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Tuesday, taking the COVID-19 count to 2,201 and toll to 120 in the region.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said the authorities will conduct targeted testing in the five worst- affected wards of the Pune Municipal Corporation, which may increase the number of cases in the next eight to 10 days.
“At present, we conduct 600 to 800 tests per day.
However, we have decided to ramp up the process and test at least 800 to 1,000 samples a day,” he said.
As many as 13 labs in the city, with a collective capacity of 1,250, were testing COVID-19 samples, Mhaisekar said.
“We will increase the capacity to 1,700, as two more private labs have been roped in for testing,” he said.
Speaking about measures taken in hotspot areas of the five severely-hit wards, the senior official said common toilets were sanitised on a regular basis, people were shifted to other places to prevent crowding and screening of senior citizens has also been increased in these zones.
The civic body had distributed masks and sanitisers at slums in these affected wards, he added.