Expect no. of cases to flatten in 2-3 days: Praveen Pardeshi, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi who was in charge of relief and rehabilitation after the Latur earthquake of 1993 and at the forefront of similar work for the UN after the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh says neither experience came close to controlling the Covid-19 outbreak. In an interview to ET, he said he expected the city figure to flatten in the next 2-3 days. Excerpts:

How do you describe the situation in Mumbai, which saw cases swell by 59 on Tuesday alone?
The patients have not come up in one single day. These cases relate to the last three days. They were tested in private labs and once it turned out to be positive, they were revalidated in government labs. On average, the increase in the number of cases is around 12-15 daily in Mumbai.


Why has there been a sudden increase?
There is a background to these cases. As per earlier guidelines, passengers from China, Italy, Spain and Iran were on the quarantine list, but not the UAE. But, 60% of flyers came in from countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and since they were not on the list and did not show any symptoms at the time of arrival, they were let go.

Are the next few days going to be crucial?
We have the situation under control, we expect more cases to come up, and again, that is because of increased testing. After two to three days, we will be on top of the numbers. I hope to see the numbers flattening after two to three days.

Isn’t the rise in the number of infections worrying?
The situation cannot be controlled by spraying sodium hypochlorite solution. The lessons we have learnt from countries like Singapore and South Korea is aggressive testing and we have gone for it very aggressively. All these people (59) who were found positive have been kept in isolation for the past two days. We are doing massive testing - 900 tests per day. Our staff members are working 14 hours a day now.