Mumbai The Yashodhan building at Churchgate, home to some of the state's senior-most bureaucrats, has been sealed after a resident tested positive for COVID-19. The building is located on Dinshaw Vaccha Road, opposite the Cricket Club of India, and houses families of IAS and IPS officers.
According to an official letter addressed to the management committee of the building by the civic body, the building was declared a 'sealed building' on May 16.
This is to inform you that your building/society is declared a sealed building from date 16.05.2020, and all residents need to be home quarantined for the next 14 days till the end date 29.05.2020, or as will be directed by the competent authority, the letter from the nodal officer of BMCs A-Ward states.
The BMC has asked the management committee to ensure containment measures are strictly enforced in the sealed area with the help of private security of the building, if required.
It has also asked it to take due care to ensure supplies of food, medicines, and essentials to the families in quarantine, especially if a positive asymptomatic patient is quarantined. Regular monitoring to be done via telephone call, and if any symptoms are noticed, BMC official to be intimated immediately.
If there are medical professionals residing in the building or society, they should take steps to sensitise the residents of nature of this disease and precautions to be taken to prevent its spread without spreading scare and stigma, the BMC’s letter adds.
"The building houses a number of senior high-profile bureaucrats. That is why the civic body is adhering to stricter policies for safety measures," said a BMC official.
Sources said there had been another case of COVID-19 previously in the same building, due to which the BMC has adopted stricter measures this time. A ward BJP corporator Harshita Narwekar, however, said the civic body will only be sealing the floor where the COVID-19 patient resides.
"The BMC will be sealing only the floor on which the patient resides. The new guidelines of the BMC state the civic body need not seal the entire building, and they will adhere to the rules," Narwekar told The Free Press Journal.
According to the revised containment policies of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, if a COVID-19 case is found in a building, the entire building does not necessarily have to be sealed. The floor on which the patient resides, however, must be sealed.
