NMMC official says it’s ready to tackle IV wave

NAVI MUMBAI: Even as Covid cases are still in single digits, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) says the fourth wave cannot be ruled out.

As of now, only the CIDCO facility is partially functioning but the corporation is ready to tackle the fourth wave.

“The day the daily Covid cases cross 100, the facilities will be activated within 24 hours. About 60% of the CIDCO Bhavan has been handed over to CIDCO and we have around 500 beds. As and when required, we take back that portion. Even Radha Swami Satsang Hall and Export House have been handed over temporarily for them to conduct their programmes but the infrastructure we made is being kept untouched,” assistant municipal commissioner, Sanjay Kakade, said.

Meanwhile, due to the noncooperation of the public, the average testing too has gone down from 4,000 to 3,000. The random testing at APMC market during the night hours has been reduced and the testing being done at railway stations is only when a symptomatic person is found.

“The public starts questioning when we go for random testing. The only place where we enforce the testing is at the hospitals. Every patient who visits the municipal hospitals is tested. As of now, the cases are stable and we are keeping a watch on the trend of positivity from private labs. A person visits a private lab only when he is symptomatic and hence we keep a close watch on the reports from private labs,” Kakade said.

“As per the trend around, we believe that even when the fourth wave comes, it could be a milder version. It might spread rapidly but cause very less severity. We are keeping a close watch on the cases around Navi Mumbai as well to stay alert,” medical health officer, Dr Pramod Patil, said.

All 407 beds of NMMC Covid Care Centre (CCC) are vacant and no patient is under Oxygen or ICU. Currently, there are 20 active cases with an average of three positive cases daily. Of the 20 active cases, seven are from Vashi, five from Nerul, four from Belapur, two from Turbhe and one each from Airoli and Ghansoli. So far this month, three infected were from the age group of zero to 18 years and 47 from 18-plus years.

While on Tuesday there were five new cases reported, on Wednesday, there was no case. The doubling rate of the cases right now is at 36,697 days.