Coronavirus in Mira Bhayandar: Alarmed by rising caseload, MBMC relaunches 'Chase the Virus' drive

Stung by the alarming rise in the number of Covid-19 positive cases, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has re-launched the “Chase the Virus” drive from Saturday to break the chain of the deadly coronavirus which has spread its tentacles in almost all the parts of the twin-city.

Toeing the lines of their Mumbai counterparts, the MBMC had launched the drive in July 2019, in which health workers had knocked on more than 2.97 lakh doors in the five day campaign. As per statistics, a total of 2, 97,490 homes were surveyed and 8,36,422 people were screened out of which 576 were found to be suffering from ailments like fever, cold and cough.

While 375 people were tested with the help of Rapid Antigen Kits 55 were found to be positive as presence of viral proteins in nasal secretion were detected on the swab.

However, several instances were reported in which the civic personnel were found to be ducking the clinical protocols. “

Learning from the past experiences, arrangements have been fine-tuned to get optimized results. This time teams have been formed in accordance with the density of population and area wise timelines,” said Dr Anjali Patil.

Based on the lines of a rapid action strategy, the chase-the-virus drive envisages door-to-door surveillance to screen residents across the twin-city. Armed with thermal guns and pulse oximeters, 382 teams comprising civic personnel in 10 zones will check for fever and other symptoms, co-morbidities and conduct tests of suspected persons with the help of Rapid Antigen Kits. 184 more people tested positive for the infection on Friday.

With the latest addition, the number of cumulative positive Covid-19 cases has reached 13,333 and the death toll has mounted to 433.