Recoveries In Mumbai Containment Zones Offer Hope, 9 Reopened

Mumbai has reported over 4,000 coronavirus cases so far.

Nine hotspots were reopened on Thursday in a locality in Mumbai, one of the worst hit cities in India due to the coronavirus pandemic, offering a glimmer of hope as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise in Maharashtra that has reported over 6,000 of nearly 23,000 cases recorded in the country. Mumbai alone has 4,025 cases.

Of 507 cases reported from G South Ward - the locality that has the highest number of cases in Mumbai - 91 people have recovered, according to the health officials. Popular areas like Worli and Prabhadevi that has prominent offices complexes, houses of celebrities are a part of the G-South Ward. 

It also includes the fishing village of Worli Koliwada and the densely populated Worli BDD Chawl.

The city's civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation - have marked containment zones in a bid to break the chain of transmission in the area. With no fresh cases reported from nine of these zones, which were reopened on Thursday, the efforts seem to be paying off.

Sachin Ahir, former housing minister and a Shiv Sena leader told NDTV, "We worked as a team and enforced the lockdown. We also had to face the anger of the people. But we viewed it as a war. Even during the lockdown, we made sure that people had confidence in what we were doing. Our aim was to limit the number of lockdown zones and make sure there is no community transmission."

"Sometimes people reached out to us through tweets and we responded to their needs. We did not neglect their needs. There were some complaints but we made sure we looked into them. We made sure we solved those issues under the leadership of our MLA and Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray and we convinced people about the need for such measures," Mr Ahir added.

Strict curbs have been lifted in areas like Adarsh Nagar, Siidhi Prabha Building, Worli Police Camp, Saati Aasra, Utkasrsh Building, BDD Chawl, NM Joshi Marg, Lodha World One, Anand Chaya Bulding and Ahuja Building.

Among these containment zones, Adarsh Nagar had the highest number of cases with 15 people testing positive for COVID-19.

Around 4,000 people  live in these nine neighbourhoods where the high-profile residential tower, Lodha World One, is located which reported one positive case.

However, the battle is far from over with clusters reported from Worli Koliwada, Jijamata Nagar and Janta Colony.

The Koliwada, a fishing village home to almost 8 0,000 people, continues to be a containment zone. However. according to the Inter-Ministerial Central Team, Worli Koliwada - where strict measures are being enforced - can become a model for the rest of the country.

Maharashtra's Tourism, Environment and Protocol Minister Aaditya Thackeray has been tracking each and every development closely. When the  civic body informed that a total of 91 patients have been cured, he tweeted: "They're going home healthier and happier! Happy to see them return after fighting Covid! (sic)"

Around 3,500 people from G South Ward are still under quarantine which the NSCI Dome, an indoor stadium is being converted into a massive COVID-19 care centre, temporary setups are being put in place with medical facilities for treatment of patients.

According to the BMC, they are not letting their guard down and are being cautious. While they consider the unsealing of containment zones is signs of early success, the battle against coronavirus is still a long one and it will be a while before normalcy returns.