As the country reels under the Wuhan coronavirus infection, with Maharashtra topping the list of the highest number of positive COVID-19 cases in the country, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has raised alarms about the likelihood of the contagion entering community transmission stage in Mumbai, the New Indian Express reported.
The Municipal corporation has said that the emergence of new cases of coronavirus with neither any travel history nor any known contact with patients hints that the spread might have entered the community transmission stage. Mumbai has registered 525 cases of COVID-19 with a death toll of 34. The BMC, in its report, claimed that the 11 of the 34 deaths due to coronavirus in Mumbai had no pre-history of ailments.
As per the BMC report, a large chunk of Wuhan Coronavirus positive case in India’s financial hub has been reported from the city’s densest areas and slum pockets. The corporation has received 78 cases from the G/South ward, the highest number of cases in the city, where the patients mainly comprise from the fishermen colony of Worli, Prabhadevi and Lower Parel. The second-highest number of cases are reported from D ward, which includes Byculla, a South Mumbai neighbourhood. In addition, localities such as Dharavi, Kurla, Nehru Nagar, Bandra and Andheri too have registered a considerable number of positive coronavirus cases.
“We are anxious and concerned about the health workers and doctors who have been tested coronavirus positive. At least 50 people from the medical fraternity have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Mumbai. Therefore, fear of the community spread of the contagion are not entirely misplaced. There are several positive coronavirus positive cases in the city who neither have any international travel history nor immediate contact. We are declaring these areas as contaminated cluster and subsequently sealing them,” said a senior BMC officer.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, however, lauded the local administration for being quick in addressing the crisis and limiting the number of cases in the city. He said that BMC’s pro-active measures have restricted the growing number of cases in the city as compared to other metro cities around the world.
The total number of coronavirus cases registered in the country stands at 5,194 with 149 fatalities. Maharashtra leads the state with the highest number of coronavirus at 1018. Mumbai alone is believed to have contributed to more than 50 per cent of the state tally.