City crosses 70,000-case mark; 2,000 frontline BMC staff infected

The city crossed the 70,000 Covid-19 case mark, with 4,000 deaths recorded till Thursday. Frontline workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made

The city crossed the 70,000 Covid-19 case mark, with 4,000 deaths recorded till Thursday. Frontline workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made up 2,026 of the cases, and 80 casualties. The maximum of these deaths was from the solid waste management (SWM) department, with the second-highest toll from civic-run hospitals and the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB).

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On Thursday, Mumbai recorded 1,350 fresh cases and 98 deaths. The city’s case tally rose to 70,878, while the death toll touched 4,062. The total number of discharged patients in Mumbai was 39,149, with a recovery rate of 55.23%. Further, active cases stood at 27,659 and the doubling rate is 41 days.

“The doubling rate has reached 41 days which was 30 days on June 16. This means that the duration of doubling of a patient in a period of 10 days has increased from 30 to 41 days. At the same time, the average percentage of daily growth in the number of patients is also declining day by day, from 2.30% on June 17 to 1.72%,” the civic body said in a statement.

In the case of overall deaths in Mumbai, the toll crossed the 500-mark on May 10. It crossed the 1,000-mark 15 days later on May 25, followed by the 2,000-mark 17 days later on June 12. The city crossed the 4,000-mark within 13 days on Thursday. The mortality rate as of Thursday was 5.72%.

According to data released by the general administration department (GAD) of BMC, of the total 80 deaths among frontline workers, 21 are from the SWM department, followed by 16 deaths from civic-run hospitals. Seven deaths were recorded from Sion hospital, three from Cooper Hospital in Juhu, two from Bhabha Hospital in Kurla and one each from GTB Hospital in Wadala, Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi, Rajawadi Hospital and Savitri Bai Phule Maternity Hospital in Malad.

Eight deaths were reported from the Mumbai Fire Brigade and seven from the security department of BMC. Nine administrative ward offices of the city reported 16 deaths followed by one each from other departments like markets, mechanical and electrical, stormwater drains, development plan, sewerage, water supply, and maintenance.

“There are more deaths in the SWM department because we are on ground continuously and the environment in which the cleaners work is also challenging. Despite giving apparatus like sanitisers, masks, and gloves, many of them do not bother to use them. Also, we have allowed all workers to report on the field and directly go home after work, but many of them may not be going home directly,” said an official from the SWM department.

“Many of the cleaners reside in slums and chawls which have common toilets. They also use public transport, hence, the high number of deaths. In the case of health workers, maybe they are less affected because they are more aware of the situation,” the official added.

BMC had around two weeks ago announced a compensation of ₹50 lakh to the families of BMC staffers who died due to Covid-19 while discharging their duty. The GAD, in a reminder earlier this week, wrote to all departments of the BMC stating, “As it is necessary to give immediate assistance to the family of the deceased employee, all departments are requested to process the claims as early as possible.”

Milind Sawant, joint municipal commissioner of GAD, said, “We are in the process of clearing claims for all the families. Many claims are pending due to paperwork on the part of the family, owing to them being under quarantine. In many cases, the departments are also in the process of furnishing required documents for the claims to be approved by insurance companies.”

BMC anticipates that with the procurement of 1 lakh rapid antigen kits, the cases within the civic body can be detected early. “The kits will be used for frontline staff, considering it gives results in 30 minutes. We can detect the cases earlier and can also have frequent testing for elderly staff members,” said a BMC official.

Meanwhile, Dharavi, one of the critical hotspots in Mumbai, reported the third-lowest number of cases since the first week of April. On Thursday, only 11 new cases were reported, taking the total count to 2,210, with 81 deaths. On Tuesday, only five cases were reported in Dharavi, the lowest since April, and the second-lowest single-day count of seven was reported on Saturday.

Further, on Thursday, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar launched BMC’s ‘Doctor at Your Doorstep’ initiative in south Mumbai, similar to the Rapid Action Plan being launched for areas in the suburbs where more cases are being reported. Through seven mobile clinic vans under ‘Mission Zero’, doctors will conduct door-to-door screening of patients, and swabs from suspected individuals will be collected on the spot. The vans will function in Worli, Antop Hill, Dongri, Wadala, Charni Road, Girgaon, Fort, Colaba, and Dadar.