The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday launched a rapid action plan to control the sudden rise of coronavirus cases in northern suburbs of Mumbai which consists of areas like Borivali and Dahisar.

These areas have lately witnessed a surge in the number of coronavirus cases after phase-wise unlocking of the lockdown. Under the new action plan, rules in the containment zones have been made more stringent and door-to-door survey has been ordered.

To make the fight against the novel coronavirus in these areas more effective, BMC Commissioner IS Chahal will deploy 50 ambulances, donated by an NGO, that will visit these high-risk localities to collect swab samples for coronavirus testing.

Cases in these areas of Mumbai are doubling at a fast pace.

In R-Central (Borivali), the doubling rate is 18 days whereas Mumbai’s average doubling rate is 34 days. In Dahisar, the doubling rate is 16 days.

According to the municipal corporation, this rapid action plan is being launched in zone 7 which consists of three administrative wards in Borivali and Dahisar. Though there is no plan yet for a complete lockdown in these areas, a partial lockdown plan has been prepared.

Unlike the rest of Mumbai, entire buildings will be sealed if coronavirus positive cases are found. Also if there are four access roads to the building, three will be shut and one will be left open for essential services.

In Santosh Nagar area or Dindoshi, the BMC has approved a plan for a lockdown given the high number of cases there. Additional Commissioner of Police Dilip Sawant confirmed the development.

In zone 7, 939 buildings have been sealed and 113 slum areas have been declared containment zones. If we look at the data of all three wards in zone 7, R south has reported 1,965 cases while 730 patients have recovered. Of the total, 1,120 are from slums and 845 from buildings.

R central has reported 1,965 coronavirus cases and R north has 1,207 cases.