Mumbai, Pune population density major challenge: Govt

NEW DELHI: The government has expressed concern over increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and Pune, highlighting the gaps in the densely populated areas and measures suggested by the central teams that visited Maharashtra to oversee the steps taken to contain the outbreak.
The doubling rate in Pune is seven days, against a national average of over 10 days, an inter-ministerial central team has found.
Health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said the dense population in these areas are posing a major challenge even as the government’s strategy is focused on identification and testing of suspected cases and high-risk contacts in containment zones.
“Mumbai and Pune are very densely populated areas and it is important that as soon as we find a case, according to our containment strategy — whether it is a cluster or outbreak — we deploy sufficient manpower and health staff, and conduct house-to-house survey to identify symptomatic and high-risk persons and provide them with services. Challenge increases according to the level of population density,” he said.