In the wake of rising coronavirus cases in the city, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided to carry out mass screenings across the city. At present, the civic body is conducting mass screenings only in containment zones. This will now be extended to other parts of the city.
In the last week of May, the NMMC had started mass level screening in containment zones in Koparkhairane ward, and deputed 10 medical teams to reach the maximum number of citizens. Till June 6, the total of positive cases reached 514 in Koparkhairane.
After Koparkhairane, the civic body extended the mass screening as planned in Turbhe which also has the maximum number of containment zones. At present, the city has a total of 30 containment zones with the maximum number, 11, being in the Turbhe node. According to civic officials, the density of the population in Turbhe is quite high and the special drive is meant to break the chain of virus spread.
So far, around 5,000 people in these two wards have already been screened and many of them were found to have been infected by the novel coronavirus.
“We are planning to extend the mass screening across the city to reach every person and check whether they have contracted the virus or not,” said an official from the civic health department.
For the mass level screening, 10 medical teams made up of expert doctors have been formed from NMMC hospitals, Dr D Y Patil Hospital and Terna Hospital.
“They started the thermal screening of the citizens and they are interacting with residents to know about their condition, and also examining their health,” said the official.
If a person shows signs of fever, his body's oxygen level is immediately checked with a pulse oximeter. Their swabs are also being sent for testing immediately if coronavirus-like symptoms are found.
According to an official, around 40% of those who are infected are related to the APMC and cases that are coming in are from amongst those who have had close contact with people working at APMC or people who visited it.
Till June 5, the total number of positive cases under the NMMC area was 2643 and 87 deaths with the mortality rate of 3.29% close to the state’s 3.55%.
