Coronavirus outbreak: BMC seals major Dahisar slum as cases spike

With the number of COVID19 cases in Ganpat Patil Nagar a huge slum in Dahisars Navagaon rising to seven from just two in a week the BMC has swung into action to prevent the infections from skyrocketing like it happened in Dharavi It has sealed the area and deployed health workers to screen the residentsAfter recording four new cases on Saturday the civic body closed the New Link Road preventing entry and exit to the huge slum in Dahisar and has requested that the State Reserve Police Force SRPF be brought in to enforce the stayathome orderThe Ganpat Patil Nagar which is spread across 50 acres mushroomed in the past decade and already has a population of over 50000 Two cases were found in the locality a week ago and on Sunday the tally rose to sevenThe BMC has started frequently sanitising the toilets small and narrow lanes and bringing in mobile toilets so as to keep the number of people sharing the toilets as low as possibleSandhya Nandedkar assistant municipal commissioner of R North ward under which the slum falls told midday We are doing our best to prevent the transmission of the disease We are constantly creating awareness among the people in the slum asking them to remain indoors However around 1015 per cent of the population are still not listening So we have requested for SRPF for intense patrolling inside the lanesThe civic body has allowed the essentials shops to open for residents and will send tankers for water There are 14 main lanes in the slum and each is being sanitised daily along with the toilets there We have also started conducting a survey to identify patients with symptoms so they can be quarantined Nandedkar saidLocal corporator Tejasvi Ghosalkar too has swung into action and roped in volunteers for doortodoor primary health screeningMeanwhile BMC is also setting up 15 Fibre Reinforced Plastic portable toilets for suspected COVID19 patients Temporary medical screening booths have been set up in the slum and people showing symptoms of the respiratory disease will be immediately taken to the hospital by the volunteersThose testing positive are being admitted to COVID19 hospital for treatment while people whose report come back negative but have symptoms are being taken to the facility for institutionalquarantine at an MMRDA building in Dahisars Kandarpada said Abhishek Ghosalkar former coporator from the localityFour volunteers each have been appointed for the 14 lanes in the slum All the 56 volunteers are residents of the slum but have been given training with the help of BMC to conduct doortodoor thermal reading and oximeter checkup If anybodys oxygen level is lower than normal they are taken to the local health booth for further checkup Ghosalkar addedSo far 25000 people have been examined at the primary health checkup counters and more than 5000 tests have been done since the lockdown was imposedSo far 50 people have been sent to the institutional quarantine facility50kApprox population in the slumCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news