Mumbai: With a whopping corona case load of 3,846, the third highest in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), K West ward is on the verge of becoming a new hotspot, as it has 1,938 active cases (as on June 20). To escape this dubious tag, housing societies in this ward have decided to pull up their socks and conduct aggressive testing of residents, procuring oximeters and thermal thermometers for the purpose.
Civic authorities have now trained their lens on housing societies and high-rises in Lokhandwala, Oshiwara and Versova, rather than keeping it focused on slum pockets. The civic body has also advised housing societies under its purview to set up emergency isolation facilities.
The Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens' Association (LOCA), an umbrella body of residents and housing societies in the area has procured nearly 150 oximeters for rapid testing of its residents. The LOCA includes nearly 500 residential buildings and societies and these testing kits are to be divided amongst them gradually.
"We have procured 150 oximeters as of now, and 50 more are yet to be delivered. We were doing regular temperatures checks of our residents so far. But now, as the BMC has said that oximeters are effective when it comes to tracking asymptomatic patients, we have decided to procure these for aggresive testing" Dhaval Shah, president, LOCA told The Free Press Journal.
"The number of cases in our ward has spiked and as housing societies, we had to be proactive. We are already conducting temperature checks and monitoring residents' health. These oximeters will be an added help," said Shah.
As per data, nearly 70 per cent of positive patients are asymptomatic, which means it is almost impossible to detect them by mere thermal scanning. Pulse oximeters are portable and help detect infection. Every resident or visitor will be tested each time they exit or enter the building.
Ever since Unlock 1.0 began, cases have begun to surge in the city's suburban pockets. Assistant Municipal Commissioner Vishwas Mote and the ward officer, have urged senior citizens and children under 15 years of age, to be strictly confined to home.
According to the civic chief, since oximeter readings are only valid for 24 hours, testing is required to be done beyond this span.
