COVID-19 deaths almost halved in one month under Navi Mumbai civic body

A senior citizen being checked in Kalamboli

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 have reduced to almost half in January 2021 (35) as compared to December 2020 (67) in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's (NMMC) jurisdiction. The daily cases have also reduced by a significant margin compared to last month. The situation in Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) also remains more or less unchanged for the second consecutive month in January 2021 compared to December 2020. Both the corporations expect a slight surge in daily cases in the month of February as local trains have opened for the public.

"The pandemic is slowly under control now. What is more important for us is controlling the number of deaths, we are focusing on that. The daily cases are under 100 which is better, but we want 0 deaths now," said an officer from the NMMC health department. "The good thing is, the daily case count is consistently reducing. As vaccination has started, we expect this count will also come down in a couple of months," he added. As suburban locals have opened for the common man, officials expect a little surge in cases. "We can check cases after 10 to 15 days to find the exact increase due to locals restarting. We believe there won't be many cases but we are prepared for any situation," another officer said.

NMMC had even started the 'mission break the chain 2' initiative to contain the spread by increased daily testing and tracing. File pic

Commissioners speak

"The reduction in deaths is a relief while managing the pandemic. In January 2021, there were many days when 0 deaths were observed. The number is low now and we are working tirelessly to keep it low. There are speculations about a surge in cases as locals have started, but our all speculations have proven otherwise and we are hopeful that life will get much easier for citizens henceforth," said Abhijeet Bangar, commissioner, NMMC.

Panvel Municipal Corporation which has only 257 active patients in its jurisdiction, is in a comfortable situation now. "Things are very much under control, but as Panvel has a major railway junction, there are always chances of infection. But for the past two months the daily cases have not increased much," said Sudhakar Deshmukh, commissioner of the PMC.

35
COVID toll of January, nearly half of December's 67