Int'l travel and parties driving surge in towers

Cases in some of the city’s wards with the highest weekly growth rates, including A (0.15%), D (0.13%), H-West (0.12%), G-South (0.12%) and KWest, are largely driven by building residents testing positive following international travel or a social do.

- Sumitra Deb Roy

Mumbai: Ward A covers Colaba to Fort, D includes Tardeo to Girgaum, H-West is Bandra to Khar, G-South is Worli to Lower Parel and K-West is Andheri-Vile Parle-Juhu.

A closer look reveals the slum-building divide further. Take the example of M-West ward that covers Chembur and Tilak Nagar and has more than 1.5 lakh, or 35%, of the population living in slums. Yet, the ward has hardly found many cases there, admitted Dr Bhupendra Patil, the ward’s medical officer of health (MOH). “Almost all our patients are building residents,” he said. Only a few have a foreign travel history. “The commonest source we found during contact tracing was a recent wedding party or a social gathering they had attended,” he said.