The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to shut down some of the COVID Care Centres (CCC) that have low occupancy to save costs and manpower. Ward officials have been directed to review the current usage of these facilities.
In view of rising coronavirus cases in Mumbai, the BMC had set up quarantine centres at private places like hotels, campuses of schools and colleges, and marriage halls. They were divided into CCC1 for high-risk contacts of patients and CCC2 for asymptomatic positive patients and those with mild symptoms, reported Mid-Day.
The city administration had set up 50,077 beds at 328 different CCC1, of which, only 6,426 beds are occupied currently, said the report.
For CCC2, the BMC had selected 173 sites and opened 60 of them with 5,096 beds. However, only 1,820 are occupied in these centres, the report stated.
Besides these CC1 and CC2, the BMC had also set up five jumbo facilities at Mahalaxmi, Bandra-Kurla complex, Mulund, Dahisar and Goregaon with a total capacity of 7,285 beds, including 612 ICU beds. Of 7,285 beds, the BMC outsourced 70 percent and around 2,000 are under it, as per the report.
Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic
Now, the corporation has decided to close unoccupied CCC1 and CCC2 facilities to avoid being criticised for overspending, said the report.
“The private places were acquired to accommodate around 1 lakh people in a worst-case scenario. But as of now, many centres remain vacant, so it has been decided to close them for the time being to save money and manpower,” a ward official told the publication.
The BMC will reopen the centres when needed, said the report citing the official.
The civic body is planning to send the high-risk and mild symptomatic patients to the five jumbo quarantine centres, the report suggested.
Also read | Trump to announce 'good news' on COVID-19 therapeutics in 2 weeks
Meanwhile, the BMC has said that Mumbai's recovery rate has improved to 73 percent while the case growth rate declined to 1.03 percent. The average case doubling rate has also gone up to 68 days, said the civic body.
At 39, the city recorded its third-lowest single-day fatality count on July 27, it said, adding that the toll now stands at 6,119.
Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here.
