Coronavirus lockdown: Mumbai's 191 'containment' zones under lens

It’s a case of lockdown within the lockdown. The Mumbai administration has identified 191 containment zones in the city, which has seen a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few days amid a nationwide lockdown, to contain the spread of the infection.

A containment zone is one where someone is found positive for Covid-19. Such area is considered contaminated and is sealed off. The residents of that area are asked not to step out of their homes. The health ministry has said even a single case of Covid-19 can be a hotspot for the government. 

The number of containment zones spread across both the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai increased from 146 to 191 by the end of Wednesday. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demarcated these areas, which have seen multiple cases of Covid-19 positive cases. Entry to these areas is restricted and violation is punishable under law. 

Parts of the city like Worli Koliwada, a slum dwelling, a chawl (a typical Mumbai community housing) in Prabhadevi, parts of Kalina (near Santacruz Airport), Goregaon (a western suburb), Kandivali-Lokhandwala, and Ghatkopar (an eastern suburb) have been identified as ‘hotspots’, where the chances of the disease spreading is high. 

A BMC official said no rapid-testing was being done in these zones as of now. There are two kinds of tests -- one is a blood test that would screen any person with high viral load (not necessarily infected with novel Coronavirus), and PCR test or genetic test, to see if the suspect is Covid-19 positive. 

Residents in the housing societies in these ‘red zones’ are house-locked. Their daily essentials are being supplied, and police picketing in the area ensures that there is no human movement happening in these zones. The lanes surrounding the containment zones are cordoned off and cops posted at all entry and exit points. 

The BMC is carrying out extensive door-to-door screening in these neighbourhoods along with active contact tracing of any positive patient. Worli Koliwada is one of the largest containment zones in Mumbai where movement of about 35,000 people has been restricted. The neighbourhood reported its first Covid-19 death on Tuesday. 

At Prabhadevi, the BMC has undertaken a massive disinfection drive at the chawl where Covid-19 positive patients were residing. The patients have now been shifted to Kasturba Hospital nearby. 

The western suburb of Goregaon, which has a hotspot at Bimbisar Nagar, off Western Express Highway, has cordoned off eight buildings, or around 30 per cent of the area. Each building has been asked to select a watchman to buy provisions in bulk and leave them on the ground floor, reports claimed.

46-yr-old man dies in Dharavi 

A 46-year-old resident of Dharavi area in Mumbai who had contracted coronavirus died on Wednesday evening. The man, who lived in a building constructed under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority scheme, had no foreign travel history, said a health official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Residents of the building have been quarantined at home. PTI