16,272 of 36K Covid-19 cases from 6 suburbs in Mumbai

Of the 35,959 Covid-19 cases reported in the city from June 19 to July 18, 16,272 were from the six suburbs of Mulund, Bhandup, Malad, Kandivli, Borivli and Andheri,

Of the 35,959 Covid-19 cases reported in the city from June 19 to July 18, 16,272 were from the six suburbs of Mulund, Bhandup, Malad, Kandivli, Borivli and Andheri, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) data shows. In this period, the city’s total case count rose from 65,265 to 1,01,224.

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BMC on June 22 launched a campaign Mission Zero, in five of these suburbs (barring Andheri) to bring down the number of cases. The ward-wise figures are available for 33,520 of the 35,959 cases.

Andheri that comes under K-East and K-West ward reported 4,133 cases, followed by Malad (P-North ward) reporting 2,734 cases. Borivli that comes under R-Central ward reported 2,544 cases, Bhandup that comes under S ward reported 2,398 cases, Mulund that comes under T ward reported 2,359 cases. Kandivli that is under R-South ward reported 2,104 cases. Dahisar and parts of Borivli, which were part of the Mission Zero campaign and fall under R-North ward, recorded fewer cases at 1,104.

BMC officials believe that the rise in numbers is owing to the aggressive testing, including the use of rapid antigen kits.

Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of zone 7 that covers Dahisar, Borivli and Kandivli, said, “ We have screened over 30,000 people in the past one month as part of Mission Zero. We are using antigen kits that have helped increase our testing numbers. Also, the base total number of cases here is lower than other areas.’’

Sandhya Nandekar, assistant municipal commissioner of Dahisar, said they recorded over 1,100 cases over one month, the most coming from high-rises. “Our testing has increased. We are testing around 100-150 samples daily, excluding the samples being tested in private labs, compared to 30-50 samples earlier,’’ she said.

Vinod Mishra, BJP corporator from P-North ward that covers Malad, said, “BMC has focused and screened over 50,000 people. The count in terms of positive cases has gone up owing to the aggressive screening. However, if you see the data of the past one week, the cases are going down.”

BMC data also shows that earlier Covid-19 hot spots are now reporting fewer cases. For example, Worli and Prabhadevi, part of G-South ward, reported 1,381 cases, G-North ward that covers Dharavi, Dadar and Mahim reported 1,658 cases. M-East and M-West ward that cover areas like Chembur, Govandi and Mankhurd also reported 849 and 736 cases, respectively.

In L ward covering Kurla, 1,029 cases were reported, while E ward covering Byculla, Mumbai Central and Mazgaon reported 512 cases.

Experts said BMC must release ward-wise testing data on the lines of ward-wise cases and deaths. Siddarth Paliwal, a city-based private health consultant, said, “We know where maximum cases are being reported in the last one month, but BMC should also release the data on ward- or area-wise testing. This will help us analyse if the number of tests is sufficient and why a particular area is seeing a spike or otherwise.’’

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of BMC, however, said it is not possible to keep a tab on ward-wise testing, as it would have to include data from private labs. “The mechanism can be developed by asking patients to give their pin codes for private lab tests, but not everyone knows their pin code. We have had many cases where people have given false addresses. However, to analyse the testing trends, we are going to keep a tab on the areas when it comes to usage of rapid antigen kits. We are currently testing around 600-700 samples using these kits, but we are scaling up it to 1,500 to 2,00 tests that will help us analyse better.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, Mumbai recorded 1,035 fresh cases followed by 41 new deaths, taking the city’s case tally to 102,423 and toll to 5,755. The number of discharged patients is 72,648, with a recovery rate of 70%, and the total number of active cases is 23,728. The fatality rate in the city as of Monday was 5.61% and doubling rate stands at 57 days.

Dharavi, one of the critical hot spots in Mumbai that has seen improvement in the past three weeks, reported 12 new cases on Monday, taking the total count to 2,492.