The Free Press Journal

RC ward: From table topper to lowest infection rate in city

Situation witnessed fast improvemen­t since Dec as a result of effective measures

- PRATIP ACHARYA for

The R Central (RC) ward, which covers Borivali, was once the ward with the highest number COVID-19 of cases, is presently among the wards with a low infection rate. Post-July last year, after the number of pandemic cases started to increase rapidly, the RC ward has been on the top of the chart with the highest infection rate. However, after December, the situation in this ward improved very fast.

Presently, RC ward has an infection rate of 0.16 percent, which is the lowest in the city and the doubling period is around 425 days.

Now that there is another spike in the number of COVID-19 cases other municipal wards which have

started to report a high rate of cases from high-rises, have now started taking cues from RC ward to contain the spread.

Senior civic officials of RC ward stated, out of the total cases, only 2 percent cases were reported from the slum areas while the rest of the cases were reported from high-rises.

“Our key objective was to seal multiple floors in buildings that would report more than five cases, apart from sealing the floors we also made sure that residents were not using the lift as well,” Bhagyashre­e Kapse, Assistant Municipal Commission­er and in-charge of this ward, told FPJ.

“We have arranged free testing camps and fever camps in every housing society which had reported a significan­t number of cases,” she added.

Kapse said Borivali being a junction records huge footfall regularly. There are 53 marriage halls and 12 lawns in the ward. Considerin­g the recent rise in cases, the civic ward office has become extra vigilant and written to the in-charge and curators of the halls and lawns to adhere to the protocols. The ward officials also monitor video footages of these places to keep a track of the guest limit.

“Now that the number of cases has started to increase we have ramped up daily testing as well, on a daily basis more than 1,000 people are being tested in our wards,” Kapse stated.

 ?? (Photo: BL Soni) ?? A BMC heath worker examines temperatur­e of a resident at Kalakilla Dharavi on Thursday.
(Photo: BL Soni) A BMC heath worker examines temperatur­e of a resident at Kalakilla Dharavi on Thursday.

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