Latest coronavirus updates in Maharashtra: With 47 new cases, state now has 537 Covid-19 patients

india

Updated: Apr 04, 2020 14:22 IST

Maharashtra’s health department on Saturday reported 47 new cases of Covid-19, including 28 from Mumbai, and said the number of coronavirus disease patients has risen to 537 in the state.

Among the rest of Covid-19 patients, 15 are in Thane district, two in Pune and one each in Amravati and Pimpri Chinchwad, officials said.

Mumbai has once again emerged as the worst affected by the coronavirus disease in the western state, which saw its first case on March 9, and reported at least 20 deaths.

The city’s administration has deployed 474 teams across 241 containment zones and checked at least 900,000 people as part of its plan to stop the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus through human-to-human contact.

A team, with two or three staff from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has to identify a containment zone, where at least one person has tested positive for Covid-19.

They have to conduct door-to-door surveys and get a questionnaire answered by all residents of that zone.

The Covid-19 patient’s family and the building are identified as a cluster zone and at least four to five adjoining buildings on all sides are mapped in the containment zone, depending on the area’s population density.

The greater the population density, the wider the radius of containment zone, a BMC health official said on Friday.

Also read: Coronavirus can spread through just breathing, talking, say scientists

According to BMC protocol, the family and immediate neighbours of positive patients are tested, as they are considered high risk. Other residents of the building are considered low risk and are simply asked to be in home quarantine.

They are also asked to keep a tab on emerging symptoms. Residents of adjoining buildings in the containment zone are also surveyed. Entry and exit from a containment zone is restricted and severe lockdown protocols are put in place.

Across all other districts in Maharashtra, however, clusters are identified only if at least three persons are found to be Covid-19 positive in the area. Following that, an area of 3 sq km is screened.

Maharashtra is also tracing the members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who attended an event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz in March.

The state government has been able to contact 1033 people out of 1225 who went to Nizamuddin Markaz and put 738 in government quarantine facilities.

Maharashtra on Friday traced seven people—two each in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ahmednagar and one in Hingoli district—who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event and have tested positive.

Maharashtra government has also said it may not end the lockdown on April 14, when the nationwide restrictions announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to be lifted.

Rajesh Tope, the state’s health minister, has said the government is likely to extend the lockdown by a couple of more weeks, especially in Mumbai and other urban areas.