While the number of active Covid-19 cases in Mumbai has declined in the last month, the western suburb of Borivali continues to record the highest number of new cases every day – 2,448 on average. According to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Borivali has registered the highest number of active cases since September 13, 2020.
Other western suburbs such as Malad, Kandivali, and Andheri have also been recording higher numbers of cases and are among the top five areas with the highest number of active Covid-19 cases in Mumbai.
Civic officials attribute the high number of cases to a significant portion of the population living in skyscrapers.
A BMC official said: “Eighty percent of cases come from skyscrapers and the trend shows that any area that has a high proportion of high-rise buildings, the number of active cases is on the higher side.”
The official added: “Several people living in slums may have developed antibodies, so there are no more cases.”
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Serosurveillance conducted by the BMC in two phases had revealed that the proportion of antibodies in those living in slums increased significantly, while that of people residing in non-slums increased marginally. This, the BMC has stated, could be one of the reasons that non-slum areas are registering more cases.
Dr. Siddarth Paliwal, a city-based private health consultant, said: “There is a chance that in the coming days also the trend of cases that are reported in areas that are not slums or skyscrapers will remain high, as the proportion of those developing antibodies in slum areas is increasing, which is evident from the results of the second BMC sero-survey. Eventually, when the level of antibodies rises in skyscrapers, the number of cases may drop. But it depends on how useful or effective the antibodies are in the fight against Covid-19. “
Additionally, according to civic body data, 10 administrative districts in the city spanning areas in the western suburbs such as Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Andheri, followed by Mulund, Ghatkopar in the eastern suburbs and Chowpatty, Ghatkopar and Malabar Hill have more than 10,000 COVID-19 Cases.
In terms of deaths, the wards covering areas such as Dharavi, Dadar, Mahim, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Malad, Andheri and Borivali have registered more than 400. Mumbai has 24 administrative wards.
However, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said the situation in the city has improved in the last month despite a daily case burden of between 2,000 and 2,500.
Chahal said on Monday: “Exactly one month ago, on September 11, BMC had 26,632 active Covid-19 cases, while on October 11, the number of active Covid-19 cases dropped to 22,369. The average death rate during the last month has been 2.1%, which has resulted in a decrease in the overall death rate from 4.9% (as of September 11, 2020) to 4.14% (as of October 11, 2020) “.
Chahal added: “The number of vacant Covid-19 beds under BMC, which was 4,165 on September 11 (including 85 ICU beds only) has increased to 4,922 on October 11 (including 257 ICU beds).”
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, Mumbai had 234,602 Covid-19 cases followed by 9,555 deaths.
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