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Covid-19: Central team visits Thane
With almost 10 lakh people residing in slums in Thane city, the five-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation to ensure
With almost 10 lakh people residing in slums in Thane city, the five-member inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation to ensure the coronavirus does not spread through the slums.
The team which visited Thane on Saturday also asked the corporation to intensify the survey of people to identify those with symptoms.
The IMCT team was supposed to assess five cities in the country, including Thane, which are hotspots. The team visited the Thane Municipal Corporation where representatives of police, district collector, and officials from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation and Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation were present.
An officer from TMC said, “Around 9.80 lakh people reside in slums in Thane and spread of coronavirus in slums will be difficult to contain. The team from the Centre has asked us to prevent the spread in slums. It is easy to isolate people if a case is detected in a building, people are also literate in societies, however, social distancing in slums is difficult .”
The IMCT also asked the corporations to ensure that the poor have enough food to sustain during the lockdown. The team visited Kaushalya Hospital, Thane Civil Hospital, Horizon Hospital and areas of Kalwa, Parsik Nagar, Amrut Nagar and Kausa in Mumbra.
The team also asked ifferent authorities such as police and corporation to district to ensure the rules of lockdown are strictly followed.
Manoj Joshi, additional secretary of central ministry, said, “It is essential to carry out more testing across the districts of suspected patients. Proper safety precautions should be taken at the fever clinics set up in the district. The institutional quarantine should also increase so high- and low-risk contacts can be quarantined to prevent the further spread.”
He added that crowded area, community toilets and slums should be the focus to stop the spread. He added, “All corporations should ensure that help reaches the poor. Senior citizens in the city should be paid special attention to.”
