Thane sees highest single day spike of 2,180 Covid cases; TMC to seal buildings

The earlier one day spike was 2100 in mid-April 2021, the Thane Municipal Corporation has given directives to seal any building that has more than 10 Covid positive cases; these buildings will also be declared as containment zones

The Covid cases have seen a spike of over 400% in the last six days with Thursday seeing the highest single-day spike of 2,180 cases. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has given directives to seal any building that has more than 10 positive cases. These buildings will also be declared as containment zones.

Thane Municipal Corporation to seal buildings with more than 10 Covid positive cases (PRAFUL GANGURDE/HT PHOTO)

The corporation has also asked the hospitals to ensure that the beds are not unnecessarily occupied by patients who do not need hospitalisation, action will be taken against hospitals that are found admitting patients with mild or no symptoms. TMC has issued a circular asking mild and asymptomatic persons to home quarantine. As of now, around 10% to 12% of the active cases are hospitalised, informed the civic officials.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has already started sealing buildings with more than 20% positive cases. Thane city has been seeing a spike in cases since the last week of December. Till mid-December, the cases were in the range of 40-50 daily. The city, however, saw 149 cases on December 29, 255 on December 30 and 336 on December 31.

Since then, the cases have increased to 2,180 on January 6. The second wave spike was 2,100 in mid-April.

Sandeep Malvi, additional municipal commissioner, TMC, said, “We will start sealing buildings with more than 10 positive cases and declare the said building as containment zone from Thursday. I have asked all the assistant municipal commissioners to ensure this is followed in their wards. As of now, we are testing 1:15 persons, which will be increased when needed. We will also test the entire building if many people are found positive.”

TMC has issued guidelines for the society stating that if a society has less than 10 cases, then the RT-PCR of the people staying on the floor with positive cases will be conducted on fifth and seventh days. The people staying on the floor below and above, where the positive cases are found, will have to get their own RT-PCR done on fifth and seventh days. If there are more than 10 cases, TMC would conduct RT-PCR of the people on the floor with positive cases while the residents of other floors will have to get their antigen tests done.

TMC has also increased daily testing from 1,500-2,000 tests in December to 7,000-8,000 at present. Malvi said that the health workers have also initiated a house-to-house survey in several wards to find out if there is anyone with symptoms.

The city, at present, has more than 9,000 beds while the active cases are 5,615. However, the officials claimed that only 10-12% of these require beds so far. Out of the 5,615 active cases, 553 are admitted at present, 68 out of which need oxygen beds.

Malvi added, “We are also sending a letter to the hospitals asking them not to hospitalise people who do not need hospitalisation for a long time. If the Covid patient does not have fever and his oxygen level is normal, he/she can home quarantine. Those hospitalised will also follow home isolation for seven days after being discharged. This will ensure that beds are not unnecessarily occupied. As of now, we have sufficient beds to treat Covid patients. We will be taking action against hospitals that admit patients who do not require hospitalisation.”

The doubling rate of cases is 140 days at present while the positivity rate as on January 5 was 22.54%.

Dr Santosh Kadam, President, IMA, Thane, said, “We have to accept that the third wave has set in and need to take extra precautions. The civic body is geared up with sufficient hospital beds and medicine for now. They have also increased the testing. Apart from this, the residents also need to get tested immediately if they show any symptoms like cold, fever or cough among others. Many people fear getting tested due to the restrictions. However, they will put their family and others at risk by delaying the tests.”

He added that if people stick to wearing masks and avoid going out in crowds, the cases will start showing a decline in a month.