MUMBAI: Civic wards which include parts of
Bandra,
Goregaon and Chembur have recorded the highest growth in
Covid cases over the past seven days.
H-West Ward, which comprises Bandra, Khar and Santacruz, has been the worst hit. A message being circulated among the residents of the Pali Hill locality in Bandra, which has reported more than 100 cases in the recent surge, said last year, from the time the lockdown was imposed in March till October, it had just eight cases.
Both H-West and P-South (Goregaon) wards have reported a 2% growth rate over the past seven days, and M-West (Chembur) 1.86%. The growth rate of these three wards is higher than the average rate of 1.46% in the city. In case of H-West Ward, civic corporators said they have been getting around 400-500 cases a day, the majority of which are from housing societies and only a fraction from the slum pockets.
The BMC commissioner I S Chahal said on an average 95% cases are from buildings.
Corporator Asif Zakeria said, “Daily cases are unmanageable and one cannot blame the civic machinery that has to deal with these. It is getting difficult to get beds for mildly symptomatic patients. But what if the person’s condition deteriorates further? While the BMC says beds would be allotted through ward war rooms, the war rooms take 2-3 days to contact patients at times and, in the meantime, hospitals deny patients beds if they approach them directly.”
Meanwhile, in Pali Hill, a society recently outsourced its housekeeping after the staffers got infected. Madhu Poplai, secretary, Pali Hill Residents Association, confirmed the increase in cases in the locality. “It is high time some restrictions are put out by the government itself, which people will be forced to follow. We have made a set of protocols too, including a member of the society committee must be delegated responsibilities and duties to ensure that precautionary measures for Covid-19 are followed in the respective building. No outsiders should be allowed and essentials are to be allowed only till the gate and the respective flat owner should then pick them up. No one must be allowed in the building without masks and a penalty of Rs 1,000 imposed for not wearing one.”
Meanwhile, the Goregaon ward is reporting 300-plus cases daily since the past five days, said officials. BJP corporator Srikala Pillai, whose ward largely comprises slums such as Bhagat Singh Nagar 1 and 2, Laxmi Nagar and Indira Nagar said these pockets have reported barely any cases and most have been from buildings. “Covid is infecting families as a whole and therefore this rise in numbers. People also need to be more conscious as earlier we had seen our ward report a maximum of 180-190 cases, which have now shot up,” she said.
In M-West Ward of Chembur, officials said sometimes quarantined citizens do not cooperate with civic staff. “When civic staff call them up, at times they do not share the symptoms as they fear longer quarantine.”