Seven wards under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have so far reported more than 200 cases each. G South ward, comprising Worli, Lower Parel and Prabhadevi, leads the list with its tally of COVID-19 cases inching towards 500. It is followed by G North ward, which consists of Dharavi, with 251 cases.
The BMC had posted the latest overall figures up to April 21 on its official Twitter handle on Tuesday night. The BMC had been putting out the ward-wise data of COVID-19 cases recorded until the previous night in the city. However, as cases rose exponentially, the civic body stopped providing the data for four days.
The latest data shows the number of positive cases in the city has jumped to 3,445, while the recovered cases has touched 408.
The BMC has attributed the spike in cases to aggressive contact tracing as the maximum number of cases have been reported from high-risk contacts of patients. Keeping with the State trend, the maximum cases in the city are also asymptomatic.
G South ward has recorded a rise of around 100 cases, from 388 on April 16 to 487 on April 21. Assistant municipal commissioner of the ward Sharad Ughade said the BMC is still confirming this number.
Ward confusion
Several wards have claimed that the health department has recorded cases under their jurisdiction though the patients are not their residents. The data comes with a disclaimer that ward-level reconciliation is a continuous process, but the new figures are indicative of the larger picture.
In E ward (Byculla, Agripada, Madanpura), the tally has risen from 172 to 349 over five days. D ward (Malabar Hill, Tardeo, Grant Road East) also witnessed a surge from 121 to 223.
Assistant municipal commissioner of D ward Prashant Gaikwad, who is also in charge of E ward, said, “We are quarantining all high-risk contacts. We will be doing extensive fever screening and in some cases even random screening in dense slums. That is why the cases will increase further.”
In E ward, cases are not concentrated in one area, but many have been reported from Agripada, Shirinbhai Chawl and Mominpura. In D ward, the number of cases have increased after healthcare workers tested positive at Bhatia and Jaslok hospitals. The remaining cases have been mostly reported from areas like Foras Road, Patthe Bapurao Road and Khetwadi. The maximum cases are from close contacts or in many cases, the BMC has not been able to trace the index patients.
‘80% are asymptomatic’
L ward, which consists of Kurla, has also reported an increase from 98 to 240 cases. Most cases were found in Zari Mari, Pipe Road, Ambika Nagar and LBS Road. The ward has placed 1,831 high- and low-risk contacts in institutional quarantine as they live in cramped spaces.
Manish Walunj, assistant municipal commissioner of L ward, said, “The figure is actually 210. Of these, only 69 are index cases, while the rest are close contacts who tested positive. About 80% are asymptomatic.” L ward has seen 17 deaths so far.
The cases in K West ward, which consists of Andheri West and Juhu, jumped from 121 to 223. F North ward, which had reported only 74 cases on April 16, saw a four-fold rise to 228.
Mumbai has 864 containment zones so far.
