4,964 people screened so far, no community spread yet: BMC

Of the 4,964 people screened at the two outpatient departments (OPDs) in the past two weeks, only one patient with a foreign travel history has been found positive

Of the 4,964 people screened at the two outpatient departments (OPDs) in the past two weeks, only one patient with a foreign travel history has been found positive for the disease, according to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), giving doctors hope that the city has not reached the category-3 – community-based transmission – yet. The rest were found from BMC’s follow-ups.

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Community transmission is when a person with no risk factors such as travel history or possible exposure to an infected person acquires the pathogen. Some countries, including Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan, have been witnessing cases of sustained community spread. OPD cases are the ones where people go for a check-up for flu-like symptoms and considered the basis to ascertain community spread.

Currently, there are two coronavirus OPDs – Kasturba Hospital and Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Municipal Hospital (which became operational on March 17) – functional in the city.

According to health officials, had the community-based infections started in Mumbai, the number of patients testing positive at OPDs would have been higher, especially in an urban region with more than 20 million residents. “Every day, more than 500 people have been visiting OPDs to get checked for the infection. Most of them either have a travel history or are concerned as they have been ailing from flu-like symptoms, which are similar to coronavirus. But until now, only one patient has been identified with the infection after screening more than 4,000 people,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner (health), BMC. Kakani said the patient has been admitted to the hospital’s isolation ward. “The patient had developed symptoms such as fever and sore throat after returning from abroad and visited the coronavirus OPD at Kasturba Hospital. Next day, the report of the swab test confirmed that the traveller had Covid-19,” Kakani said. In Mumbai, all reported positive cases are due one of the two risk factors. “Until now, we haven’t found any patient with community-based infection,” said Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer (EHO), BMC.

Doctors claimed some coronavirus infections may go unnoticed as this season usually witnesses a spike in respiratory diseases. Influenza and common cold have symptoms similar to the coronavirus. The state health department has asked doctors to inform them of cases in which patients develop acute pneumonia, although not all cases of pneumonia are caused by the coronavirus. The pathogen of coronavirus affects the respiratory tract from the nose to the lungs. In some patients, it may only affect the upper respiratory tract with mild symptoms. When it reaches the lung, the patient develops pneumonia, accompanied by breathlessness. “It is tough to differentiate the symptoms of pneumonia from coronavirus-acquired pneumonia without tests,” Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of Chest Research Foundation.