BMC’s flying squads find 130 Covid-19 cases so far

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) flying squads, which were formed in all 227 wards to conduct door-to-door checking, have, so far, found 130 coronavirus

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) flying squads, which were formed in all 227 wards to conduct door-to-door checking, have, so far, found 130 coronavirus positive cases. Moreover, the civic body has found 347 Covid-19 positive cases at its walk-in testing labs and three positive cases through monitoring over the phone.

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Civic health officials have been strictly instructed to curb community transmission in the city and stop the pandemic from entering the third phase. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dr Daksha Shah, deputy director, health department, BMC, said, “We have decided to gear up testing through door-to-door visits, walk-ins at testing labs and screening of suspected patients through monitoring over the phone. The civic body has increased its testing in Dharavi by this method. We can control the spread of disease in the surrounding area. We have also identified buildings with patients and sealed them.”

During door-to-door visits, after getting details such as the address of the patient, a special team (flying squad) identifies all high- and low-risk contacts of the patient. After cross-checking his/her travel history, the health staff tracks every person who has come in contact with the infected person for symptoms and then asks them to go for the test. The BMC has received more than 10,000 calls on Covid-19 helpline, of which 319 symptomatic persons have been referred for the test. The BMC’s health department has advised institutional quarantine for 1,224 high-risk persons through telephone counselling. All low-risk contacts are advised home quarantine for 14 days.