Covid active cases highest in four BMC wards despite fall in infections

Four municipal wards in the western suburbs of the BMC have continued to record a high number of cases daily despite a fall in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city. The wards K west (Andheri west), R Central (Borivli) K east (Andheri east) and R South (Dahisar) presently have been reporting the highest active case tally in Mumbai.

Both Andheri west and Dahisar presently have 2,669 and 2,548 active cases while Andheri east and Dahisar have 2,012 and 1,918 cases each so far. These four wards collectively comprise 32 percent of the entire active case tally in Mumbai.

Earlier during the first week of May, each of these wards had more than three thousand active cases.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data, both Dahisar and Andheri east have been reporting 80-100 fresh cases since the last one week, while Andheri west and Borivli have been reporting more than 150 cases on an average per day.

Senior officials of the BMC have said that owing to the heavy population density in the western suburbs the percentage of active cases is higher, however they said that the infection rate has declined.

"Earlier when the second wave was at its peak, more than 300 cases were being reported from both andheri east and west, now the overall case tally is receding gradually, owing to the fall in numbers everywhere due to lockdown," said a senior civic official.

Furthermore he mentioned that during the second a many more people got infected compared to the first wave and now most of the cases are coming from the close contacts of these people.

"Earlier, cases were being reported mainly in clusters; now not many cluster cases are reported," the official.

Meanwhile, another official said that more tests are carried out in these areas which is why the case tally over here is more.

"Areas like Andheri and Borivli are junctions along with railway stations, bus depots and airports are also situated there. The BMC is carrying out random tests in these places so automatically the case tally is more," the official said.

"In areas like Dahisar and Borivli more than 70 percent of the population reside at high rises and most of the cases are being reported from buildings only," the official added.