Result of Mission Zero will show in 10 days, says BMC

Rapid action plan beginning to show effect in six wards; antigen tests will help further, says BMC

Even as data shows the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ‘Mission Zero’, a rapid action plan to check Covid-19 cases in Mumbai’s six suburbs, has brought down the numbers marginally, civic officials say it will take another 10 days for the situation to improve.

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The 36-day plan was launched on June 22 to focus on Mulund, Bhandup, Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivli and Malad, with door-to-door screening, fever camps and mobile ambulances. The work kickstarted the next day. These areas contribute to more than half of Mumbai’s Covid-19 cases.

The six wards are Malad (P-North), Borivli (R-Central), Dahisar (R-North), Kandivli (R-South), Bhandup (S) and Mulund (T). These areas now have a growth rate of over 2%, with the R-Central ward topping the list at 3.2%, followed by T ward with a growth rate of 3.1%. This is much higher than Mumbai’s average growth rate of 1.54%. When ‘Mission Zero’ was launched two weeks ago, all six wards had a higher growth rate with the highest in R-Central ward at 3.8%, followed by T ward at 3.7%. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner in charge of BMC’s health department, said, “It is my estimate that situation in these suburban wards will improve in the next 10 days. Now, we have started antigen tests for high-risk contacts, which has increased the number of people we test.”

Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of zone 7, who is in charge of R-Central, R-South and R-North wards, said, “Cases in my areas are stagnating since the rapid action plan started. There is a small reduction in cases as well. We have started rapid antigen testing also. High-risk contacts who are in quarantine facilities are tested on the 10th day of their quarantine. So far, we have observed 4% positivity. That means transmission is not high from the index patient. It is good news.” In the three wards, 579 rapid antigen tests have been conducted, of which 25 tests have shown positive results, while 554 have tested negative.

‘Mission Zero’ also mandated BMC to trace up to 20 high-risk contacts per positive patient, as opposed to Mumbai’s average of 13 contacts for every positive patient. Assistant commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners in charge of the remaining wards could not be reached for a comment on Wednesday. On the other hand, the previously known hot spot of Dharavi (G-North ward) in the island city recorded three new cases on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Dharavi recorded only one case, its lowest since the day a case was first detected in this slum on April 1. The tally stands at 2,338, with 329 active cases.

Mumbai on Wednesday recorded 1,347 new cases, and 62 new deaths. The case count is 87,856, and toll 5,064. Of the total cases, 23,543 are active. The fatality rate is 5.7% and doubling rate is 45 days.