Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
There has been an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai. For the last two waves, Mumbai was seen to be the biggest hub of coronavirus. Now moving towards the third wave, once again Mumbai is breaking all the records.
In the last wave, the delta variant caused havoc in the city and this time the threat of Omicron variant is looming. But compared to the previous wave, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made elaborate arrangements to deal with Covid-19. BMC Additional Commissioner Suresh Kakani tells The Quint Hindi about the preparations for the administration.
Suresh Kakani said that due to dense population and large number of traffic, cases often increase rapidly in Mumbai and that is why BMC is emphasizing on screening and testing of passengers coming from high risk countries. Along with this, special attention is being paid to the number of beds in hospitals, the supply of oxygen and medicines.
Kakani further said that in view of the increasing infection of hospital staff in other cities, BMC has started the recruitment process. So that OPD and EPD services are not interrupted when the number of patients increases and adequate manpower is available. However, this time the number of hospitalisations is very less as compared to the second wave and at present there is no idea of imposing a lockdown.
"At present, 80% of the beds in Mumbai are lying vacant, so 90% of the infected have been found asymptomatic. In which out of 35 thousand beds left till now, only 7 thousand beds have been occupied," Kakani said.
In view of the health system, there is no idea of imposing a lockdown at the moment, he said. "But taking stock of the situation every two days, tough decisions can be taken if needed," he added
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