CM’s ward new hotspot in Mumbai

Ward covering Bandra (East) crosses 500 mark; screening of residents is on

With more than 500 Covid cases till Friday, H-East ward, which covers Bandra (East), Santacruz and parts of Vile Parle (East) and houses the Thackeray family, has emerged as a new hotspot after Worli, Dharavi and Govandi. The city, meanwhile, reported 722 cases with 27 deaths on Saturday, bringing the case count to 12,864 and toll to 489.

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H-East was one of the first wards to start door-to-door survey to identify suspects. The ward is also identifying senior citizens for comorbidities, and referring them for further treatment. The ward has a large number of slum pockets, followed by a high population of state government employees and their families.

According to the figures provided to the local elected representatives of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the H-East Ward had 595 positive cases, as of Friday, a jump from 269 cases on April 26.

Ashok Khairnar, assistant municipal commissioner, H-East ward, said, “The strategy to bring the virus under control is similar to other areas – having more and more containment areas followed by aggressive screening and testing maximum citizens. In our ward, things are now under control, and we have screened maximum citizens residing in the limits of H-East ward.”

Some of the areas where cases of coronavirus have been reported include Navpada, Dnyaneshwar Nagar, Vakola Masjid area, Agripada, Siddarth Nagar, Jawahar Nagar, Gaodevi, Kherwadi, Patthar Nagar, Golibar Road, Government Colony, Teachers Colony, Behrampada and Bharat Nagar etc.

Local Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique said, “We do not have any particular area where maximum cases are being reported from. The cases are spread across. I held a meeting with the authorities recently to raise several issues such as availability of beds. A 1000-bed hospital is being built in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and H-East patients must get priority there. Further, private hospitals must give discounts to patients and not overcharge them.”

In case of Dadar, the count went up to 105 on Saturday from 87 on Friday. Eighteen new cases were reported in Dadar on Saturday from areas such as Kasarwadi, Bal Govind Das Road, Gokhale Road, Lokmanya Nagar etc. Of the 105 cases, 17 have been discharged.

The BMC on Saturday discharged 137 patients at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI). Of the 137, 95 are from G-South Ward which includes Worli, Prabhadevi etc. The G-South ward is also the most affected ward, with more than 800 cases.

The second most affected area in the city is Dharavi, one of India’s biggest slum clusters. As of Saturday, Dharavi recorded 833 cases with 27 deaths. Dharavi falls in G-North ward of BMC which includes areas such as Mahim (112 cases) and Dadar (105 cases). The city so far has 2,646 containment zones.

Meanwhile, the BMC has geared up to screen 1,900 citizens who are expected to land at Mumbai airport starting Sunday. The first flight is to land with stranded citizens from London at 1.30am on Sunday. The BMC will screen all fliers and those with symptoms will be admitted to Covid-19 hospitals, and those with no symptoms will be sent to quarantine facility in 88 hotels.