Four wards buck the trend with less than 50 cases

BMC officers attribute low numbers to effective monitoring, local factors; opposition leaders cast doubts

April 24, 2020 01:22 am | Updated 01:22 am IST - Mumbai

All at sea:  Worli jetty, which has been declared a containment zone, wears a deserted look on Wednesday.

All at sea: Worli jetty, which has been declared a containment zone, wears a deserted look on Wednesday.

While the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise rapidly in the city, four wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seem to have managed to keep the novel coronavirus at bay, reporting less than 50 cases each.

The four wards — R Central (Borivali, Charkop), R North (Dahisar), C (Kalbadevi, Marine Lines) and T (Mulund) — have been consistently reporting the lowest cases since the beginning of the outbreak. As of Thursday, R Central ward recorded 44 cases, R North ward 27, C ward 35 and T ward 28.

Stark contrast

The stark contrast is evident in the numbers. G South ward (Worli, Prabhadevi) has already crossed 500 positive cases and is closely followed by E, D and K West wards, which have been recording the most cases since March. Wards such as L, F North, G North, and K East, which had initially recorded less than 50 cases, have crossed the 200-mark.

Officers from these wards have attributed the surge in numbers to aggressive contact tracing, placing contacts in institutional quarantine and setting up fever clinics. Most new cases have also been reported among close contacts of patients. In Worli, of the 389 positive patients, 320 turned out to be contacts. In Dharavi, of the 40,000 people screened for fever, 443 were referred for testing and 83 tested positive.

An officer from BMC’s health department, who did not wish to be named, said, “Initially, in E ward, we found that the process of contact tracing was extremely shoddy. That is why the ward reported just 30 to 40 cases in March. Two officers were transferred and a new one was appointed. Contact tracing and placing of patients in isolation then began on a war footing. This is why the ward has reported 368 cases now; 80% of them are contacts.”

While officers at R Central and R North wards are giving the credit for their low number of cases to effective monitoring, their counterparts at C and T wards are attributing it to local factors.

Since the start of the outbreak, R Central ward has identified 430 high-risk contacts and 2,870 low-risk contacts. Of the 44 positive cases in the ward, 24 are close contacts. The ward, which has recorded six deaths, has a capacity of quarantining 400 people, but has a capacity to place only 50 asymptomatic patients in isolation.

Bhagyashree Kaapse, assistant municipal commissioner of R Central ward, said, “We have surveyed 27,875 families so far, covering a population of more than one lakh. We have held four fever camps, monitored all 600 travellers from foreign countries since their arrival. It is possible that the good results are because the style of working of our officers is different.”

Aggressive tracing

R North ward has so far identified 321 high-risk contacts and 1,600 low-risk contacts. A total of 38,676 houses, covering a population of 1.42 lakh, have been surveyed and 190 people with symptoms referred for testing. Sandhya Nandedkar, assistant municipal commissioner of R North ward, said, “For every positive patient, we have traced 15 to 20 high-risk contacts. Ambawadi, which saw seven cases, has not reported a single case in the past 13 days. We held fever camps in Ganpati Patil Nagar even though it did not report a single case. Of the 11 swabs taken so far none have tested positive. If we were not doing enough, more cases would have come up in Ambawadi and Ketkipada.”

In C ward, which has a capacity of quarantining 1,200 people, 50 high-risk contacts have been placed under institutional quarantine, while 200 have been home quarantined. Among them, only two to three were tested after they developed symptoms. Two fever clinics were held in the ward and 25 people were referred for testing. Amin Patel, MLA from Mumbadevi, said, “C ward is very small and most of it are commercial areas. Even in residential areas like Bhendi Bazaar, most buildings are empty owing to redevelopment. Right now, our biggest challenge is ensuring availability of beds in hospitals.”

In T ward, with a quarantine capacity of 400, a majority of the 295 high-risk contacts are in home quarantine. The ward has reported only one death. “Several wards have a few cases like ours, but it also depends on local circumstances. Nobody can deny that cases are going to rise,” said Kishore Gandhi, assistant municipal commissioner of T ward.

‘Biased treatment’

Meanwhile, opposition party members like former Mulund MLA Kirit Somaiya said the dip in numbers was due to the success of the nationwide lockdown. Mumbai BJP leader Ashish Shelar said, “If guardian minister for Mumbai suburban district Aaditya Thackeray has found 500 cases in Worli it shows his favouritism towards his constituency. What about monitoring the other parts of Mumbai? The local BMC officials make a big difference.”

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