Despite a spike in cases, several residents continued to step out of their houses. (Representational)

With seven Covid-19 positive cases reported over last one week, BMC has sealed the entire Kurla Gaothan, also known as Kurla village. With a population of 5,000, the area has become one of the biggest containment zones in the city, BMC officials said.

“We have now sealed the Kurla village completely. Now, our health team will commence door-to-door surveys and screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms,” Assistant Municipal Commissioner, L-ward (Kurla, Sakinaka), Manish Valunje said. The L-ward, a Covid-19 hotspot, has recorded at least 900 positive cases. Till Thursday, 16,738 cases were reported in Mumbai, the highest in the state, which has recorded 27,524 cases.

Densely populated with narrow lanes and small houses, civic officials said, the 400-year-old Kurla village, which has a majority of Christian population, is more vulnerable to the infection. Despite a spike in cases, several residents continued to step out of their houses.

“People are still roaming outside. Yesterday, police had announced that strict lockdown will be implemented in the area. After I helped a man, who tested positive for Covid-19, to get admitted to Bhabha Hospital, some other residents targeted me by spreading malicious messages on social media groups. They claimed there are no coronavirus cases in the locality and that I was lying. Many persons, who were stamped for home quarantine, are also roaming outside,” Anita Shetty, a local social worker, said.

Meanwhile, to contain the spread of the virus, civic officials have started declaring larger containment zones by combining multiple clusters.