Mumbai, May 3 (IANS): Concerned at the sharp drop in the number of Covid-19 tests being conducted in the country's commercial capital, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday appealed to Mumbaikars to undergo tests and help flush out the coronavirus from the city's environment.

Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal said that the city's highest single-day testing from March 2020 till February 10 this year when the second wave hit Mumbai was 24,500.

Soon afterwards, the testing shot up by more than double and touched the maximum 56,000 tests on a single day on April 21, and the previous month (April) averaged at 44,000 tests conducted daily.

However, in the past few days, the testing figures have fallen dramatically - from over 50,000 to barely 28,000 on Sunday (May 2) and is likely to fall further during the weekends.

"Our aggressive testing policy has resulted in reduction of positivity rate. This might have reduced the natural demand for home collection of swabs by our citizens in the last few days. We need to increase the testing to 40,000 per day, at least, if not more," said Chahal.

He appealed to all Mumbaikars to step forward and get themselves tested to increase Covid-testing to the maximum levels to combat the coronavirus scourge.

Till Sunday, Mumbai has recorded the highest death toll of 13,294 and the case tally stood at 655,997 till date, though the daily infections have been on a downswing since a week now, spelling relief to the BMC.