The Vasai-Virar township is emerging as one of the worst Covid-19-hit areas within the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR).
Located along the Western Railway route and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway – the area comprising Naigaon, Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar, has a population of over 20 lakh.
Part of Maharashtra's coastal Konkan belt, the MMR is spread across the twin districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban and large parts of neighbouring Thane, Raigad and Palghar district – which is home to nine big corporations.
The area falls under the Palghar-ST Lok Sabha constituency and comprises two Vidhan Sabha seats of Vasai and Nalasopara.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Vasai-Virar has crossed the 60,000 mark and deaths over 1,000.
On Sunday, according to the figures obtained from the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC), eight deaths and 670 cases were reported.
In the VVCMC area, the positivity rate is higher than that of the other corporations of the MMR which includes the financial capital of Mumbai and two large municipal areas of Thane and Navi Mumbai.
On average, over the past month, the VVCMC has been reporting 600 plus cases on a daily basis adding to the total in the MMR, where the situation has significantly improved if one compares it with the rest of Maharashtra.
Nalasopara MLA and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) leader Kshitij Thakur said: “The cases are constantly increasing all over the country, which is a cause of concern. However, all the sectors, services and our party are continuously at it. We sincerely hope that the situation will come under control soon with collective effort.”
Thakur’s father Hitendra Thakur is Vasai MLA and founder of BVA and known for his grassroots connect.
Vasai-Virar also came in news for two big incidents - on 12 April, at least 7 deaths were reported from Vinayaka Hospital and three from Riddhi Vinayak Hospital, both located in the Nalasopara because of lack of oxygen supplies, while on 23 April, the fire in ICU of the Vijay Vallabh Hospital and Medical Research Centre at Virar claimed 14 lives.
The crowd at vaccination centres and inadequate supplies too is a major issue.
It also needs to be mentioned here that the VVCMC has major industrial areas - and many of the units fall in the ambit of 'essential services' category. The contact tracing is low and several people have been found violating quarantine norms.
"We managed to come out of the first wave, however, the second wave hit us badly. People are largely responsible also as they Covid-appropriate behaviour in the new normal is not up to the mark. Also, vaccination centres can become super spreaders here because of the crowd," said a general physician, who is also a social activist.