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Thane sees spurt in Covid cases; tally touches 560
Covid-19 cases in Thane continued to rise exponentially on the third consecutive day with the city recording 64 new cases -- the highest one-day spike so far.
Covid-19 cases in Thane continued to rise exponentially on the third consecutive day with the city recording 64 new cases -- the highest one-day spike so far.
Hotspot Lokmanyanagar Sawarkarnagar alone recorded 35 positive cases, including that of a six-month-old baby, in the last 24 hours. One death was also reported in the city on Thursday.
The total number of positive cases in the city is 560 with 21 deaths so far.
The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) said that 35 cases are of those who attended the funeral of a Lokmanyanagar resident, who tested positive on April 13 after he died.
The 72 people who had attended his funeral had been quarantined.
Sandeep Malvi, deputy municipal commissioner of TMC, said, “A 52-year-old man from Mumbra who was on dialysis died on Thursday. He went to Kalwa Hospital on May 4 for a dialysis when he was tested. He tested positive and died in his house in Mumbra.”
Hanumant Jagdale, local corporator of Lokmanyanagar, said that most people from the funeral has tested negative. “The 35 cases are mostly from Kajuvadi, Vijaynagar, Ramchandranagar and Sambhaji Nagar which are part of Sawarkarnagar and not Lokmanyanagar. For over one and half months, there is no assistant municipal commissioner in this ward. It is essential to form a special ward-level committee of experts to prevent the spread of virus in this ward.”
TMC also issued a circular about following safety protocol in hospitals for all deaths.
Two bodies were released from Chhatrapati Shivaji Hospital in Kalwa, Thane, without following any safety protocol, and both tested positive after death. Taking disciplinary action, TMC replaced the dean of the hospital.
The circular by civic commissioner Vijay Singhal states, “It has come to my notice that a few days ago, Kalwa hospital handed over a man’s body to his relatives without following any safety protocol. This has put the relatives, friends and family of the deceased at risk of infection as the person tested positive later. It will now be mandatory to follow all safety protocol in case of any death in hospitals as. The body will be taken straight to funeral homes while it will be packed in a body bag. This will ensure that the people attending the funeral are not infected.”
