Kalyan-Dombivli tops in Covid-19 cases in Thane district; residents blame civic body

While most cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are showing a marked drop in Covid-19 cases and improvement in recovery rate, Kalyan-Dombivli continues to top the list of cases.

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On Wednesday, 517 cases were reported from the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) limits, taking the total to 30,699. While the neighbouring cities of Thane, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar and Badlapur have seen a drastic decrease in the number of cases, and some have a recovery rate of more than 90%, KDMC is struggling to maintain the recovery rate at 85%. Currently, the number of active cases in KDMC is 3,343.

Residents blame lack of control over lockdown violators and inefficient crowd management for the rise. Civic officials, however, claim citizens ignore symptoms. Dr Prashant Patil, Indian Medical Association, Kalyan chapter, said, “With festivities and public holidays over the weekend, many ignored the symptoms to avoid testing. They only underwent tests when the symptoms aggravated. This led to fluctuation in numbers in the past two weeks. After the Independence Day weekend too, the number was in the range of 200 to 250 cases.”

Rajat Rajan, social worker, Dombivli, said, “As per lockdown norms, pillion riders are not allowed, but we see even three people on two-wheelers. Similarly, people step out of their houses regularly to visit shops and markets. Very few housing societies check visitors. With no efforts towards crowd management, the number of cases in KDMC has not seen a decline yet.”

Michael Gomes, 43, resident of Kalyan West, said, “Earlier, there were set timings, housing societies would open gates only for few hours in the day. This would ensure less movement of people and that too only for essentials. Now with offices and markets opening up, housing societies do not have any time limit.”

He said: “The virus was initially restricted to slums or crowded pockets, but is now spreading to housing societies as well. Although KDMC seals the entire wing if a positive case is found, many societies manage to get away with it.”

Activists claimed that the corporation should take a leaf out of neighbouring Bhiwandi and Thane cities to find solutions. “In Bhiwandi, the newly appointed commissioner took into confidence various social organisations and religious leaders to create awareness. In Thane city, various teams of volunteers who are a part of the survey and contact tracing give real-time updates. However, KDMC has not adopted any policy to take help of residents to curb the spread. Although people are cooperating there are at least 2% of them who end up crowding the markets or loiter around unnecessarily,” said Sriniwas Ghanekar, activist, Kalyan.

KDMC officers claim they have been making awareness announcements in markets and public places for more than four months since the pandemic began. They have also roped in various volunteers to conduct door-to-door survey and contact tracing.

Vijay Suryavanshi, commissioner, KDMC, said the cases are more due to increased tracing and testing. “We have taken various steps especially in the first week of August to contain the spread of the virus. The war rooms set up in each ward take necessary action. The daily reports on the cases in all wards are assessed and accordingly we also conduct testing camps.”

Dr Pratibha Panpatil, pandemic officer, said, “We did not have our own testing laboratory initially which led to a delay of four to eight days to get the test results. After KDMC started its own testing facility, we are focusing on tracing high-risk contacts. We contact them directly and also offer swab collection facility at home. The rise in numbers depends on the number of tests on that day. Our recovery rate is improving as we are able to provide timely treatment.”

She said that compulsory testing is also imposed on shop owners and grocery store workers through medical camps, while senior citizens are also given priority. “With increased screening, we are focussing on controlling the spread of the virus. Our initial focus was on improving treatment and recovery facilities.”