With the number of Covid-19 cases nearing 26,000 in Maharashtra and 16,000 in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is now planning to distribute immunity booster tablets to the people residing in the city’s containment and red zones.
Mumbai’s mayor Kishori Pednekar confirmed this.
Pednekar said the BMC has begun door-to-door screening and have also started giving Arsenicum Album 30 to all people living in the containment and red zones.
“We don’t know if the medicine will be completely effective but we have decided to begin administering it on a trial basis in containment zones and red zones. And if it works, we will expand its reach to people who are in quarantine centres,” said Pednekar.
She added that AYUSH Ministry is supplying the tablets currently and it is being distributed for free but will soon be made available at medical stores.
“We do not know the efficacy of this tablet. ICMR has to clear the administration of such immunity boosters and not the AYUSH Ministry,” said a senior doctor working with the Maharashtra government.
The government through BMC has set-up at least six more corona care centres (CCCs) in the past two weeks. These are the centres where asymptomatic positives from dense slum pockets are being kept. The new facilities have been developed at Mahalaxmi race course, Nehru Science Centre, MMRDA ground in BKC, Mahim Nature Park and NESCO Ground, Goregaon. With these new facilities, the total capacity of Mumbai has been enhanced from 14,000 to 34,000 beds.
The critical care beds have also been increased from 3,000 to 4,750 in hospitals like Nair, KEM, Seven Hills, and so on. Mobile ICU beds are also being planned at the NSCI Dome.
BMC has been keeping Mumbai’s residents in quarantine to avoid the spread of covid-19 in the containment and red zones.
“We have increased the number of our staff working in these zones to stop the spread of corona infection. We will also be sanitizing public toilets in the slum areas,” said Pednekar, according to media reports.
The number of covid-19 cases in Maharashtra rose to 24,427 on Wednesday, with 1,026 new cases in the past 24 hours. Maharashtra is the worst-affected state by covid-19 in India. Maharashtra has added over 1,000 new cases for the seventh straight day. The state recorded 53 new deaths in just one day.
India’s COVID-19 count has reached 74,281 as at 10 AM on Wednesday.
With the number of covid-19 cases rising by over 1,000 everyday, Maharashtra is gradually entering into an emergency situation. Mumbai is the worst-affected city in the country by the pandemic, with number of positive covid-19 cases rising rapidly in the city’s slum dwellings such as Dharavi.
On Tuesday late evening, Maharashtra’s chief minister Uddhav Thackarey too said, “Making available hospitals and ICU beds in Central Government establishments like the Army and Mumbai Port Trusts etc will aid the battle against the Corona virus.”
Thackarey said it is now being predicted that a large number of corona cases will be seen in the month of May.
In Maharashtra, Thackarey said, on one hand, there is a health emergency and on the other hand there is a financial emergency.
News Source; Livemint