Shift patients to CCCs in other wards if required, says civic chief as BMC starts increasing bed capacity

On Thursday, the city recorded a new highest single-day count of Covid-19 positive cases, as 991 individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the

On Thursday, the city recorded a new highest single-day count of Covid-19 positive cases, as 991 individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total number of cases in Mumbai to 16,738, according to data from the Maharashtra health department. Mumbai also recorded 25 deaths on Thursday, taking the toll to 621.

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According to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai recorded 998 new cases on Thursday, of which 364 are of patients who tested positive in various private laboratories on May 11 and May 12. Explaining the difference in BMC and state figures, a civic official said, “There may be a different cutoff time at which entries must have been taken from the portal.”

Of the 25 deaths (18 men and seven women), 16 victims had co-morbidities. Fourteen deaths were of people above 60 years; 10 victims were between the ages of 40 and 60, and one person below 40 years succumbed to the virus. Mumbai’s mortality is now at 3.7%.

Dharavi on Thursday recorded 33 new Covid-19 patients, and two deaths, taking the total number of positive cases for the area to 1,061, alongside 49 deaths. Seven additional deaths were also recorded in Dharavi the same day, of patients who died on different dates, but were reported as Covid-19 patients to the respective ward office on Thursday.

With a renewed focus on shifting high-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients to institutional quarantine facilities, especially those living in slums and congested pockets, BMC is now looking to scale the availability of quarantine beds in category-1 Covid care centres (CCC-1). At present, BMC has a total of over 23,100 CCC-1 beds across 260 odd facilities, of which 10,237 beds are occupied.

On Saturday, municipal commissioner IS Chahal directed all ward officers to intensify tracing of high-risk contacts in Mumbai up to 10 persons per Covid-positive patient, up from the present average of three. He also directed officers to improve coordination with adjoining wards to use their CCC1 facilities, if any ward is nearing its full capacity for quarantine beds.

Wards with large slum populations and numerous cluster cases in containment areas have been moving hundreds of high-risk contacts to institutional quarantine facilities.

In Dharavi, 35% of the total cases reported were among high-risk contacts of positive patients. A senior civic official said, “One of the ways forward is large-scale institutional quarantining of contacts who live in slums and congested areas. Beyond containing the area, high-risk people also need to be shifted out to ensure minimum spread of the virus. Such areas have small homes, single rooms shared by four to five people, community toilets.” Wards such as the G North (Dharavi, Dadar, Mahim), has over 2,450 CCC1 beds, of which 718 are presently occupied. BMC has traced 6,496 high-risk contacts of 1,036 cases in Dharavi, as of Wednesday, and institutionally quarantined 5,857 residents through the course of one month.

“Our focus is to scale up beds capacity in existing facilities, as it is faster. We already have a setup of doctors, nurses, and arrangements for food. In my ward, I have identified Mahim Nature Park which will accommodate at least 650 odd beds,” said Dighavkar.

E ward has used 378 beds as of Tuesday, nearing its total CCC-1 bed capacity. A civic official from the ward said, “Our doubling rate has gone up to 14 days (as of Tuesday), from eight or nine days. Now the cases per day are coming down to 15 -30. The situation is improving due to contact tracing measures.”

Makarand Dagadkhair, assistant commissioner from E ward, said on Tuesday, “Around 80% of the cases are from pockets with community toilets, slums, and chawls. We are still increasing our contact tracing efforts, door-to-door screening, and containment policy.”

In H East ward (Bandra East), which has around 800 CCC1 beds, 90% of them are occupied by high-risk contacts. However, assistant commissioner of the H/E ward, Ashok Khairnar said, “I’m scaling up beds at CCC1 to reach 1,100 in the next two days. We have already identified the locations.”

M East ward, which has the large slum pockets of Govandi and Mankhurd, has the highest number of CCC1 beds among the 24 wards. The institutional quarantine facilities have 4,000 beds, of which only around 750 are currently occupied.

Scaling beds for mild-symptomatic and asymptomatic patients

In a press release on Thursday, BMC said it is also scaling up bed capacity for CCC-2 centres, where patients who are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms, are quarantined. CCC-2 bed capacity has been expanded to 34,329 across 241 facilities. BMC hopes to decongest hospitals by scaling up these facilities.

Many CCC-2 have been upgraded to have oxygen outlets and ICU facilities. This includes the Mithaghar school in Mulund which has 10 ICU beds and NSCI dome at Worli with 70 ICU beds.

The CCC-2 at MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex will have 1000 beds and the Nesco exhibition centre at Goregaon will be equipped with 1,240 beds.

Beds for non-Covid patients

BMC has freed up 7,500 beds to treat patients suffering from illnesses other than Covid-19, across tertiary and peripheral municipal hospitals of the city. A total of 3,539 beds have been made available at Sion hospital (1,278 beds); KEM Hospital (1,711 beds), and Cooper Hospital (550 beds).

Mumbai’s 18 peripheral hospitals have a total of 3,076 beds and 28 maternity homes have 899 beds for non-Covid patients. Those with illnesses not related to the coronavirus, who have difficulty accessing healthcare, can get help via BMC’s helpline 1916.