Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has started door to door screening in 12 densely populated areas, which were declared as special containment zones on Monday. In order to break the chain of the transmission of coronavirus, the civic body will screen around 70,000 people in the next one week in these containment zones.
Annasaheb Misal, municipal commissioner, visited Turbhe Store and Kopar Khiarane on Monday morning and inspected the containment zones. Misal said that around 65 per cent of positive people are asymptomatic and are carrying the virus. “In these 12 special containment zones, mass screening will be carried out by visiting houses door to door.” He added that he has directed the Health Department officials to increase contact tracing up to 20 people, which is currently 10.
Earlier, the civic body had declared 10 areas as special containment zones and, later, added two more areas. The previously declared 10 areas, where the week-long lockdown has been declared from June 30 to July 5, are Diwalegaon, Karavegaon, Turbhe Store, Sector 21 Turbhe, Sector 22 Turbhegaon, Sector 11 Juhugaon Vashi, Sector 12 Bonkode, Sector 19 Koparkhairane Gaon, Rabade Gaon, and Chinchpada Airoli. And, the two more areas that were added later in the list of special containment zones are Sector 1 to 9 CBD Belapur and Vashi, where the lockdown will continue till July 6. The civic body will also carry out disinfection in the special containment zones during the week.
In the last one month, the civic body extensively worked in Turbhe, which was declared as a hotspot of COVID-19 by the central government. “We reached 26 people of every single corona positive person as part of contact tracing. This has brought results, as there are no new cases for the last 10 days there,” said Misal.
Meanwhile, the suspected positive persons to be found during mass screening will be put in institutional quarantine. Civic chief Misal said the suspects found in this mass screening will be immediately swab tested and isolated. “It is not possible to isolate them in their house, as the area is densely populated and their houses are small,” said Misal. He added that in order to break the chain of the virus, institutional isolation is mandatory for them.
