The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that the highest number of cases recorded in the city between March 6 and 13 happen to be Andheri, Mulund, Kandivali, Borivali, and Ghatkopar with over 500 cases reported from these areas.
The data further shows that 13 of the 24 wards under BMC have higher COVID-19 growth rates as compared to the city’s average of 0.39 per cent. BMC’s T-Ward that covers Mulund has a growth rate of 0.59 per cent while the G-South Ward (Worli) has the slowest growth rate at 0.22 per cent. The lowest growth rate in the city has been reported at Dongri, Mohammad Ali Road, Colaba, Fort, Marine Lines, Matunga, Worli, and Wadala.
Read - Maharashtra Records Over 15,000 New COVID-19 Cases For Fourth Consecutive Day
Andheri (West) recorded around 895 cases of the virus with a growth rate of 0.56 per cent between March 6 and 13. Meanwhile, Mulund saw 671 new cases for a growth rate of 0.57 per cent in the same timeframe.
Here’s the data for some other regions in Mumbai:
Civic officials said that the highest growth rate doesn’t necessarily mean that the ward has the most reported cases given that the base was lower for some wards in the city. “Some areas have more hospitals in their jurisdiction. A ward close to the international airport, which is quarantining international passengers, is likely to record more cases. We also found certain clusters where higher number of cases were detected together,” a senior civic official said.
Authorities have said that the rise in the number of cases can be attributed to factors like the resumption of local trains and citizens not following adequate safety measures including social distancing.
Suresh Kakani, BMC’s Additional Municipal Commissioner said, “Since the resumption of local trains for everyone, we have seen a spike in the number of new cases. We are recording maximum Covid-19 cases from high-rise buildings, which are turning into superspreaders. People are attending marriages, family functions without wearing masks.”
Experts from the Maharashtra COVID-19 Task Force have said that they have ramped up testing in the midst of the surge in cases.
The BMC said last week that around 90 per cent of the cases being reported are coming from residential buildings or high-rises. This is a sharp turnaround from last year when the highest number of cases were being reported from slums, particularly Dharavi.
Also read - BMC’s Serosurvey Says Slum Colonies Carry Higher COVID Antibodies Than High-Rises
Civic officials have said that samples taken from the city’s COVID hotspots will be sent for genome sequencing to ascertain if any of the deadly variants of the virus have taken hold. Officials are focusing this effort on Amravati for the time being which is reporting a steep increase in cases.
“We are sending samples to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune from hotspots for genome sequencing to find any possible mutation of the virus. Earlier, we were sending samples only from Seven Hills Hospital, but are now selecting samples from wards with more cases,” the Municipal Commissioner added.
Vaccinations are currently underway across the city’s 85 designated centres with 44,683 people inoculated in Mumbai on March 15. Of these people, 39,505 received their first dose while 5,178 got their second dose of the vaccine.
Data further shows that 30,298 of the recipients were senior citizens while 4,500 were people over the age of 45 with comorbidities with the rest being frontline workers and healthcare staff.
Read - Maharashtra At The Beginning Of Second Wave Of COVID-19: Centre To Thackeray Govt