Mumbai recorded a test positivity rate of 8.4% on Wednesday, warning of a huge spike in Covid-19 cases, the city’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said, NDTV reported.

A test positivity rate determines the percentage of persons who test positive for a virus out of the overall who have been tested.

Mumbai reported 739 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, more than double the 318 cases recorded on Monday. Of the total cases on Wednesday, 96% were asymptomatic.

The municipal body has asked staff members to increase Covid-19 testing and vaccination, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Chahal said that with monsoon approaching soon, symptomatic cases could rise. “Better to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Chahal said.

He told the civic body’s health department that jumbo hospitals must be adequately staffed and on alert. Chahal also said that the jumbo facility in Malad should be made ready on priority if hospitalisation increases.

Additional municipal commissioners have been told to visit jumbo hospitals in their jurisdictions to ensure they are ready for monsoon. The facilities need to have dewatering pumps, structural stability certification, fire safety mechanism, housekeeping, catering, paramedical and medical staff and oxygen manufacturing plants. They need to be fully equipped with medicines.

Mumbai logged 5,979 infections in May as against 1,822 cases in April. It reported only three deaths last month compared to four in April.