BMC introspects containment policies for better management of third wave

With a decline in daily Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is introspecting containment policies with the main focus on better management for a possible third wave

With a decline in daily Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is introspecting containment policies with the main focus on better management for a possible third wave. The civic body has tied up with educational institutions to help them in formulating better policies and finding out loopholes in the current policies.

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Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, BMC has implemented various strategies and policies to contain the spread of the virus which has also earned it nation-wide appreciations. But the civic body wants to be more careful and scientifically recheck all the policies, such as 3Ts (Treating, Testing and Tracking); Mission Save Lives; My Family, My Responsibility; and Break The Chain, which helped curb fatality and infection rate in the first and second wave.

The decision was taken in a review meeting of health officers. Though most policies helped to control the transmission of the virus in the city, health officers had to struggle to curb the outbreak of the second wave in April when the daily count of cases rose to more than 10,000. Medical experts believe that mutation of the virus can be one of the contributing factors.

“We need to understand why the cases surged to such an extent and where we failed in our containment planning. Considering there has been mutation of the virus, there is a possibility that the third wave would have more mutated strains, which can aggravate the infection rate. But as they are not scientifically proven, we have to find out possible loopholes in the policies,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.

Kakani said the civic body has tied up with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-Bombay) to help the body in the research. Researchers have been advised to use their mathematical models to help BMC in formulating better plans.

“We have tied up with different non-government organisations and educational institutes to do different studies and research, which weren’t possible earlier when the pandemic curve was at its peak. We want to know the epidemiological characteristics of the virus better. Many such studies are in the pipeline,” he added.

Doctors have also appreciated the self-assessment strategy taken by the civic body. With this, policy makers would have more knowledge about Sars-Cov-2 virus which has been mutating in the environment.

“This virus is a new one and even after 15 months of its outbreak, we do not know anything about it. In the second wave, when it mutated, the transmission got faster. So, in any pandemic, it is essential to study and examine the pathogens. It is just like a battlefield. You need to know your enemy better to win the battle,” said Dr Rahul Pandit, member of the state task force.