After its newly appointed civic commissioner ramped up contact tracing, testing and institutional quarantine, Bhiwandi has slowed down the spread of Covid-19. Since July, the city in Thane district has been reporting less than 100 cases daily. The fatality rate has come down to 5.7% from 10.22% recorded on June 21. On Friday, Bhiwandi reported 39 new cases and five deaths. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the city is now 3,006, of which 644 are active. The death toll is at 173.
On June 18, the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) imposed a 15-day lockdown as the number of Covid-positive cases reported daily was consistently above 100. On June 20, when Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Pankaj Ashiya was appointed commissioner of BNCMC, 170 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded. A doctor by training, Ashiya had previously been in charge of the Malegaon Emergency Operation Centre set up to tackle Covid-19.
Under Ashiya, BNCMC is following a four-step model of house-to-house surveys, contact tracing, containment and facility management. Ashiya has 414 teams conducting surveys in Bhiwandi and tracing 150 suspected cases daily. The number of contacts traced for each Covid patient has gone up to 16 from 1.5.
“Close contacts are compulsorily in institutional quarantine and only well-to-do families in the city are allowed home quarantine. Earlier, institutional quarantine was just 10%, which we have increased to 50%,” said Ashiya. Swab tests (which have to be sent to Mumbai since there is no testing facility in Bhiwandi) have increased from 50 to at least 400 daily. Ashiya said Bhiwandi was the first to start antigen tests in MMR (from July 1).
BNCMC has also started mohalla clinics across the city. Khan Fakhre Alam, 55, who runs a gift shop at Gulzar Nagar, volunteered his shop to set up a mohalla clinic. “We want the city to be safe and decided to help the civic body,” said Alam.
{{/usCountry}}BNCMC has also started mohalla clinics across the city. Khan Fakhre Alam, 55, who runs a gift shop at Gulzar Nagar, volunteered his shop to set up a mohalla clinic. “We want the city to be safe and decided to help the civic body,” said Alam.
{{/usCountry}}Bhiwandi-based activist Javed Ashfaq Farooqi, 42, said, “We could see lot of activities in the city since the new commissioner joined... The cases have reduced which is a good sign and people are feeling positive.”
At present, there are three dedicated Covid hospitals (two of them privately-run) with approximately 2,500 beds in Bhiwandi. At the state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, BNCMC has increased the number of beds from 27 to 100. The civic body has organised 270 beds in two community halls. BNCMC aims to add another 600 beds soon.
Bhiwandi mayor Pratibha Patil said, “In the coming days, the cases will reduce more and we are focusing on zero deaths.”