Civic health workers at an antigen test set-up at a society in Kandivli. Pic/Satej Shinde
The number of Mumbaikars in institutional quarantine has reduced by more than half from 20,000 in May to nearly 4,000. Most of the people in institutional quarantine used to be from slums due to lack of space at their homes.
The number of people in home quarantine, on the other hand, is still 1.64 lakh, most of them being in buildings.
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Of the city's population of 1.24 crore, over 41 lakh in slums are in Containment Zones, while 8.8 lakh are in sealed buildings. On July 13, the number of people in institutional quarantine was 9,235, which has reduced to 3,949. The number of people in home quarantine was 2.40 lakh on the same date.
"In almost all wards, positive patients are turning up in high rises, increasing the volume of home quarantine," said a BMC official.
mid-day reported on August 14 how in the Dahisar-Kandivli belt, 80 per cent of the cases are from buildings. Even in the southern parts of the city, the majority of cases are from buildings.
"People from buildings are getting tested as a precaution and getting positive results. Most of them are asymptomatic and all of them are in home quarantine," said Prashant Gaikwad, assistant commissioner of D ward.
The high number of cases has become a challenge for BMC which is testing 10 high-risk contacts under its 'Chase the Virus' initiative.
Fewer contacts in buildings
"We have to chase at least 10 contacts of a positive patient. While the ratio is 1:13 in slums, the major challenge is in buildings as positive patients don't have 10 high-risk contacts, here the number is lower," said a senior BMC official.
On July 13, there were 22,939 active COVID-19 patients and 2,49,303 quarantined people, which results in a patient to high-risk contacts ratio of 1:11. But the current ratio has reduced to 8.6. "While the number of patients is reduced in slums, it is advisable to continue having Containment Zones," said a BMC official.
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No. of Containment Zones in slums
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