1,305 buildings with 5 or more cases sealed in city – Times of India

Mumbai: Two days after BMC released stringent norms for sealing entire buildings with five or more Covid-19 cases, civic data shows their numbers now total 1,305 across the city.
On February 18, merely 321 such buildings were listed as sealed in the civic data. Officials said till two day ago, only data of completely sealed buildings was being maintained, considering the declining trend in positive cases in the city. Now, even buildings with sealed floors are being entered into the civic records in light of the rising cases.
Of the 1,305, T Ward (Mulund) has the maximum sealed buildings or floors at 233, followed by N (Ghatkopar) and P-South (Goregaon) with 125 each. Residents of sealed buildings across the city total 2.7 lakh.
“Cases were on a decline and we were only sealing floors and hence the data did not reflect these numbers. Now, once again, a decision has been taken to seal entire buildings,” said the civic official.
Another official said the exponential rise in numbers could also be because earlier a building would get sealed if it had 10 or more positive cases and now the new rule has halved the limit to five cases or more.
BMC said the cases are scattered across the T Ward which has the maximum number of sealed buildings or floors. “There are over 200 buildings in the area which have at least one Covid case while the number is comparatively lower from the slum pockets,” said the official.
Meanwhile, BMC’s action against those found not wearing face masks is yet to gather momentum. BMC commissioner I S Chahal, in his February 18 order, had directed civic marshals to catch at least 25,000 such offenders every day. On February 19, though, only 13,592 persons were fined and the total penalty collected was Rs 27.2 lakh. The number was mostly unchanged from February 16 when 13,557 persons were fined and the penalty collected was Rs 27.1 lakh. A civic official justified this, saying with February 19 being a public holiday, fewer people had ventured out. Ravi Raja, Congress corporator, said many wearing masks fail to maintain social distancing.