Mumbai civic body to educate citizens on how to stay safe from Covid-19

As part of the Maharashtra government’s ‘my family, my responsibility’ programme to tackle the spread of Covid-19, the civic body will educate the citizens about safety and precautionary measures to be taken to protect themselves.

With no let-up in the coronavirus situation, the Mumbai civic body has planned to educate the citizens on how to live with the virus by taking various precautions in everyday life and making some lifestyle changes.

Health care worker during Covid-19 antigen test at Mankhurd in Mumbai. (Photo By Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times)

As part of the Maharashtra government’s ‘my family, my responsibility’ programme to tackle the spread of Covid-19, the civic body will educate the citizens about safety and precautionary measures to be taken to protect themselves and their families from the epidemic.

It will include a set of instructions/advisories to be followed by individuals and families at home as well as in the housing societies or colonies, at shopping malls and markets at workplaces and while travelling in public transport.

Some of these instructions are:

* Members of a family should use different masks.

* Mark your reusable masks to avoid the use of the same by other families members.

* Two persons should avoid talking face to face

* Speak less or maintain silence while eating your meals

* Check temperature of family members every day. If possible even check oxygen level on daily basis

* Non perishable goods that are ordered through online should be kept outside for at least a day before using them.

* Common areas of the building/house such as handles, knobs should be sanitised regularly. Citizens should use piece of paper to press the buttons of lifts and dispose them off properly after use

* Social distancing should be strictly maintained in housing societies/colonies

* If possible, a face shield should be used in public transport. Hands should be sanitised immediately after leaving the public transport vehicle

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said, “In order to effectively curtail the spread of coronavirus, it is imperative that all members of the family take necessary care and are vigilant to avoid even inadvertent mistakes. Citizens will be informed about the important steps that should be taken to achieve positive results against Covid-19.”

The drive begins on Tuesday and will continue till October 25.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated a door to door survey to screen over 1.24 crore population of the city.

Under this, several teams of around three people in each for the next 40 days will conduct screening of citizens for Covid-19 symptoms.

Vishwas Shankarwar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner of BMC, said, “We will undertake my family, my responsibility for the next forty days and will cover the maximum population under the same. We have already undertaken screening for senior citizens earlier, and this will be similar to that.”

Till now, the BMC has screened around 10 lakh citizens in the city of which around 3,100 citizens have been referred for oxygen therapy.

Shankarwar added, “The focus is also on areas where the cases are high, and this drive will be more aggressive in areas like Dahisar, Borivali and Kandivali. There will be more surveillance and testing from these areas.”

Several areas of western suburbs including the above mentioned locations along with Jogeshwari, Andheri and Vile Parle also have the highest number of active cases in the city. The city has around 31,123 active cases, as of Monday, according to data from the state health department.

The campaign will also provide referral treatment to people with co-morbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, obesity.

Meanwhile, as of Monday, Mumbai reported over 1.72 lakh Covid-19 cases of which 1.32 lakh have recovered followed by over 8,100 losing their lives.