Numbers in Mumbai rising average 6.7% daily, 5 wards have over 1,000 cases each – Times of India

Some wards with the fewest cases so far—T (Mulund), R North (Borivli, Dahisar) and B (Dongri, Umarkhadi)—have shown the highest growth percentages for seven days till May 11 (see box). Officials blamed a case spurt in slum pockets in May, but pointed out that because they had small case bases to begin with, the percentage growth could be exaggerated.
Interestingly, of the five 1,000-plus-case wards, three—G North (Dharavi, Dadar, Mahim), G South (Worli, Prabhadevi) and K West (Andheri W)—had case rates below the city’s average. E ward (Byculla, Mumbai Central) and F North (Wadala, Matunga, Antop Hill) had higher rates. When it came to case doubling, three of five—G North, E, and F North wards—were doing so faster than Mumbai (11 days). E ward and F North were worry points.
At the brightest end of the spectrum, a standout is D ward (Malabar Hill, Walkeshwar), which recorded the best doubling rate of 17.6 days and least case growth rate of 4% among all the wards. A couple of weeks ago, BMC had been left scrambling as cases climbed steeply in this posh ward.
The analysis shows T, R North, and B wards have seen a spurt in cases from double to triple digits over the past fortnight. On April 25, T ward had 32 cases, R North 29, and B had 74. Now, they are T 263, R North 151, and B 144. Officials pointed at the spread of cases in congested slum pockets in these wards, like Indira Nagar and Ramgad and Mulund. In T ward, more than 50% cases are from the slums. In Borivli too, cases spread in the slums, though former corporator Abhishek Ghoshalkar said volunteers have managed to control the Covid-19 spread in the huge Ganpat Patil Nagar.
Corporators TOI spoke to blamed the sharp rise in cases, especially in congested wards like E, on the civic administration’s delay in isolating high-risk contacts of a person testing positive. “Several patients who tested positive in my ward were asymptomatic, and there was fear that they may have infected others with weak immune systems,” said E ward corporator Javed Juneja. Speaking about K West, which witnessed a sharp spike in cases, MLA Ameet Satam said besides sealing of congested localities, mass screening has started in several pockets.In F North ward, which has reported over a 1,000 cases, slums are proving a challenge. “Almost 60% of the cases are from slum areas. In Antop Hill, localities like Sangam Nagar and Bhartiya Kamala Nagar have been marked out as red zones after there were over a dozen cases,” said Congress corporator from the area Ravi Raja.