Virus cases soar in NMMC high-rises

Problem aggravates as many residents do not come out for testing

There has been a shift in COVID-19 positive cases in Navi Mumbai as more cases are found in society building rather in slums. The civic chief while interacting with citizens through social media claimed that people in society are not coming out of their homes for tests which are pushing the numbers. “We observed that people in society and high rises are not coming for tests,” said Municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar, while communicating with locals on Sunday. He added that the mobile test van started to reach within the society premises.

The civic administration controlled the spread of COVID 19 in slums after going aggressively on testing and tracing. Turbhe Store, under the Turbhe ward of NMMC, was put under the red zone by the central government. “The civic body paid special attention to this area and carried out extensive contact tracing of those found corona-positive. We reached 28 people who had come in close contact with the corona-positive patient in the area and checked their health condition and whoever showed symptoms was subjected to a swab test," said a senior NMMC official. He added that even those with minor symptoms were put in institutional quarantine. Such extensive contact tracing yielded success and in 15 days, the spread of the virus was controlled in the area. "We called it Turbhe Pattern," added the official.

Bangar also addressed the frequent lockdowns in the city. Bangar said that there is no scientific evidence that lockdown will end the pandemic. However, it certainly delays the spread and gives a chance to the administration to make adequate preparation if case increases. He also assured that there are adequate arrangements of ICU beds which are with the civic body. “These ICU beds are available for common citizens without any charge,” said Bangar.