MUMBAI: The Mumbai civic body has sealed a wing of a building in south Mumbai in which Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty resides after a fifth person from that wing tested positive for coronavirus, a senior official said on Monday.
He said the 'A' wing of the 'Prithvi Apartments' located on Altamount Road was sealed on Saturday after a fifth person from that wing tested positive for coronavirus last week.
"But no one from the Shetty's family tested positive," he added.
"The entire building hasn't been sealed. Only one wing is sealed. Another wing has no cases," said Prashant Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner, D ward, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
He said the first patient was found in the wing five to six days back.
Hence, the wing will be reopened in the next few days, once that patient recovers.
Thereafter, only the floors with COVID-19 patients remain sealed.
Meanwhile, Shetty tweeted that no Delta variant of coronavirus was found in his building.
"Wow! Must say that fake news spreads quicker than any virus. People, pls don't spread panic. There's NO 'Delta Variant' in my building society. Just one COVID+ case & the patient is recuperating at Breach Candy hospital. The others are currently negative & self quarantined," Shetty tweeted.
The Shettys live on the 18th floor of the Prithvi Apartment.
"My building is safe and the family is fine. One wing has a notice up but NOT entire building sealed as being misreported. My mother, my wife Mana, #Ahan, #Athiya & my staff; as well as the entire Bldg are fine & thank U for your good wishes. Sorry folks no #DELTA," he added.
As per the BMC's revised guidelines issued in April, a building is sealed and declared a micro-containment area if five COVID-19 cases are found.
Mumbai on Monday reported 478 new coronavirus cases and nine fresh fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 7,28,174 and the toll to 15,636, as per the BMC.
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) updated data, with the addition of 478 cases, the COVID-19 tally rose to 7,28,174, while the death toll increased to 15,636.
This is the third time since the beginning of July that Mumbai has reported less than 500 COVID-19 cases and under 10 fatalities for the second time.
On July 5 and 6, the city had reported 489 and 453 new COVID-19 cases, respectively, and nine fatalities on July 7.
Generally, the city reports a lesser number of new infections at the start of week as the number of tests conducted on weekends goes drops as compared to other days.
The civic body said in the last 24 hours, a total of 27,827 tests, the lowest in July so far, were conducted for detecting coronavirus, taking their cumulative number to 75,62,401.
Since the start of July, the daily number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the city has been over 30,000.
On July 9, as many as 39,000 tests were carried out in the city.
According to the BMC, the number of discharged patients outnumbered the new cases on Monday.
With 701 patients discharged from hospitals during the day, the number of recovered cases climbed to 7,03,077.
Mumbai has COVID-19 recovery rate of 96 per cent, BMC officials, adding the city has 7120 active cases.
According to the officials, Mumbai's average doubling rate of COVID-19 cases has reached 926 days, while the average growth rate of cases between July 5 and July 11 was 0.07 per cent.
The count of containment zones in slums and chawls has reduced to just five, while the number of sealed buildings is 63, the civic body said.
The financial capital of the county had reported the highest-ever 11,163 COVID-19 cases on April 4, while the most deaths in a day during the second wave - at 90 - were recorded on May 1.