BMC revises COVID containment rules; building to be sealed if 3 COVID-19 cases reported

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday issued revised guidelines over its COVID-19 response of sealing buildings on identifying Coronavirus cases in their premises. BMC in its amended guidelines said that it will now seal a particular building completely only if more than three COVID positive cases are reported in its periphery.

The CIVIC body said if less than three cases are reported, then civic officials will only seal the specific floors of the building where the cases have been found and no restriction will be imposed on the movement of other residents.

The decision comes after several complaints were raised by citizens over restriction of movement after the civic body last week passed the rule of sealing the building entirely even if one COVID case is found in the building's premises.

The BMC had earlier issued guidelines on sealing buildings completely after witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, especially in Western suburbs of Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar areas. According to reports, BMC data shows 526 sealed buildings in Kandivali, 673 in Borivali and 213 in Dahisar, accounting to more than 2600 cases.

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COVID-19 situation in Mumbai

With 1,118 persons testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Mumbai on Wednesday taking the total count of COVID-19 cases in the city to 1,11,964. At present, there are 20,123 active COVID-19 cases in the city. The number of recovered soared to 85,327 after 916 patients were discharged in the day. Meanwhile, 60 COVID-19 deaths were reported on Wednesday, propelling Mumbai's fatality toll to 6,244. 42 of the aforesaid deceased had co-morbidities.

While there are 622 active containment zones currently, 5,960 buildings have been sealed. 3,597 high-risk contacts have been traced in the last 24 hours. The patient doubling rate in the city rose to 72 days. The recovery rate of the Mumbai district is 76%. A total of 1104 samples were tested for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. The city's positivity rate has improved to 9.48%. 

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