28% Fall in Mumbai's Home Isolation Cases, 62% Drop in Institutional Quarantine as Covid Curve Plateaus

The number of individuals in home quarantine in Mumbai has fallen by 28% in the last month as the coronavirus curve plateaus in the city. The number of people in institutional quarantine has also dropped by 62% in the same duration in some more respite to Mumbai's residents,

According to a Hindustan Times report, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed ward officers to shut unoccupied Covid care centres (CCC) given how over 90% of them are lying vacant.

As on July 4, 246,870 individuals were placed under home quarantine in Mumbai. On August 4, this number fell to 178,740. Besides this, 12,374 people were quarantined at private institutions like hotels, schools, colleges, etc during the stipulated period. But by August 4, this figure, too, decreased to 4,674, the report added citing the civic agency's data.

At the moment, many coronavirus cases are surfacing from residential complexes and the civic agency is concentrating on home quarantine for the city's residents. Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC told the publication that previously, cases were being reported from the slums and they would isolate them at a different location.

"Thus, we rented out hundreds of vacant places to keep them under institutional quarantine. But now, with the recovery in slums, the load on CCCs has decreased,” Kakani was quoted as saying.

Till June, close to 60% of the beds under CCC-1 and CCC-2 facilities were being used by high-risk contacts, asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic coronavirus patients. However, currently, nearly 92% of the beds are unoccupied.

In total, BMC has 72,656 beds in CCC facilities, out of which merely 6,065 beds are presently being used.

Dr Neelam Andrade, dean of Nair Dental Hospital and in-charge of the jumbo centre at NESCO, Goregaon told HT that because of the overcrowding in slums, they did not have any choice but to place all high-risk individuals in different facilities. She added that now, as the patients in residential complexes have adequate space to adhere to social distancing, they are being permitted to isolate at home.

BMC has asked all ward officers to vacate the facilities, but Kakani assured that the agency would keep a specific number of beds in each ward as a precaution.