The total number of micro containment zones (MCZs) in Mumbai has declined by a sharp 35 per cent in just one week. Owing to the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that any residential building or housing society with five or more active cases would be identified as a MCZ.
As per the latest ciic body data, there are 728 active MCZs in the city. Earlier, on April 28, there were 1,101 active MCZs in the city. At present the K West (KW) ward that covers the affluent areas of Juhu, Ville Parle, Versova and Lokhandwala in the Andheri (West) has a total of 215 MCZs, which is the highest in Mumbai. It is followed by D ward (Grant Road, Malabar Hill and Napean Sea Road) that has 164 MCZs. L ward, which covers Kurla and Chandivali, has 58 MCZS. And, E ward, which covers Byculla, has 56 MCZs.
Senior officials have attributed the decline in the number of MCZs to the fall in cluster cases. Officials said, after the cases started to increase rapidly post March, multiple cases were being reported in households, which automatically increased the active case count in the building.
“Now, cases are again being reported in a scattered manner. In a family, there are maximum two cases, which makes it easy for us to separate them,” said an official.
Dr Mangala Gomare, executive officer of the BMC Public Health Department, said that the case count has fallen, as people are following the lockdown guidelines strictly.
“Everything is interrelated; with suspension of local train services, the movement of people is being restricted, which has resulted in less cases,” said Gomare.
Till February, most of the sealed buildings and MCZs were being reported from R Central (RC) ward, which covers Borivali. At present, there is no MCZ in this ward.
“We have asked the office bearers of every sealed building to update us in case people breach the quarantine rules. We have also taken action a few times. This has helped in getting the numbers down,” said Bhagyashree Kapse, assistant municipal commissioner and in-charge of this ward.
Meanwhile, the city has also recorded a sharp fall in the number of active sealed floors (SF) and slum areas marked as containment zones (CZ). Earlier on April 28, there were 10,686 SFs and 115 active CZs. At present, there are only 9069 SFs and 102 CZs in the city.
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