E-Paper
8,900 contacts of Mumbai’s coronavirus patients traced
The authorities have traced around 8, 900 close as well as extended contacts of the 278 patients in the city who had been tested positive for coronavirus until Friday.
The authorities have traced around 8, 900 close as well as extended contacts of the 278 patients in the city who had been tested positive for coronavirus until Friday.
Around 900 of these contacts live either in slums or congested areas owing to which they have been provided with special quarantine facilities by their respective civic ward offices.
Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday had announced that patients above 60 years of age will be shifted to five big hospitals, as the elderly and those suffering from comorbidities are at a greater risk of contracting the virus.
The corporation said senior citizens and patients with comorbidities will be shifted to Kasturba Hospital, St George Hospital, Seven Hills Hospital, Nanavati Hospital and Saifee Hospital. Patients below 60 years as well as asymptomatic patients will be send to the Covid-19 isolation centres located at Nagpada, Bandra (West), Andheri (West), Borivli, Powai and Govandi.
On Saturday, the corporation has set up 10 clinics in the densely-populated areas of the city as well as across more than 241 containment zones. The swabs of citizens will be collected for testing for coronavirus everyday at these clinics between 9am and 1pm. The decision to set up the clinics was taken by municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi in the wake of the substantial rise in the cases in the city.
Mumbai recorded 99 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total number of positive patients in the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to 454. Two of these patients are from Dharavi. Until now, five people from Dharavi have tested positive for Covid-19 who have no travel history.
Ninety-six other patients who developed symptoms have also been admitted to quarantine centres and their test results are awaited.
Meanwhile, the firefighters at city’s 34 fire stations have also stepped up efforts to provide relief during the lockdown. Some eateries have started delivering food packets to the closest fire stations. These packets are distributed by the firefighters to the homeless as well as to those migrant labourers who have been stranded due to the lockdown. The families of the firefighters have also been cooking food for the needy which is distributed by the fire safety personnel.
