As testing is the only tool to know the number of people infected with COVID-19, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is much ahead compared to other states in the country. The civic body has tested 7500 people per million population for COVID-19.
This has helped the local body to control the spread of coronavirus and have a cure ratio over 58 per cent.
According to the health department of NMMC, the civic body has taken swab samples of total 11,302 till May 29. “We have tested 7,535 people per million population to date,” said an official from the civic health department. The city has around 15 lakh population.
The official stated that counts of confirmed cases depend on how much tests we actually carry out. “There is no other way to check whether a person is infected with the virus. Therefore, only tests can tell how it is spreading,” added the official.
“The civic body is testing more than many states like Bihar, Bengal, and Jharkhand,” said another civic official. He added that in order to properly monitor the spread of the virus, there is a need to do more testing.
“We have already started mass screening in slums and containment zones. People with symptoms are tested with COVID-19 to ascertain whether he is infected or not,” said the official, adding that this drive will continue till June 9.
Now, there are only 775 active patients in its jurisdiction with 1158 cured. Civic chief claims that some key decision like shutting down APMC for a week, no permission for alcohol sale among few has helped to contain the spread of the virus in Navi Mumbai.
The APMC was closed for a week from May 11 to May 17 after a spike in positive cases in the city and the majority of them were reported from the APMC. Of the 1996 positive cases reported in the city, around 600 of them were either directly or indirectly related to the APMC alone. Till May 29, a total of 63 deaths reported with a 3 percent mortality rate.
Meanwhile, the Navi Mumbai police has stopped registering for Shramik Train. According to police, some of them could not be sent due to non-approval from their states. However, their numbers were low and were sent on Saturday by clustering with other groups from the CSMT.
Sanjay Kumar, Navi Mumbai police commissioner appreciated Vinod Chavan, assistant commissioner of police (Crime Branch) for migrants to repatriate them smoothly. Chavan, for the past two months, ensured the strict implementation of lockdown, distribution of dry food among needy and registering migrants to send them back to their native places.
