The number of patients admitted to the Kurla Bhabha Hospital also went up from 62 yesterday to 124, forcing the health authorities to step up efforts to provide medical aid. Dr A S Pendse, medical superintendent of the hospital, revealed that of the 124 patients 38 were in the paediatric ward, 55 in female medical ward and 31 in the male medical ward. Private hospitals in Kurla too have reported cases of gastro.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (health) Dr M B Sahasrabuddhe who paid a visit to the Bhabha hospital was told by a patient that their slum colony (Quereshi Nagar from where the maximum number of patients have beenreported) had received contaminated water for two days.

Civic spokesperson, D S Shivjatak, informed that civic medical teams had been rushed to affected areas where they are carrying out medical examinations. Samples of blood and stool were sent yesterday to Kasturba Hospital for analysis. Later in the day at a press conference, Sardar Tara Singh said that 15 water samples and 11 food samples from the affected area have been sent for examination and that the reports would be available tomorrow. ``I have already told the concerned ward officer to destroy all kinds of food items sold by the hawkers in Kurla, especially the Chinese food stalls,'' he said.

Tara Singh further added that as a precautionary measure, the BMC has already destroyed 41 kgs of sweets in H (west) ward, along with 288 litres of sherbat, and 100 kgs of fruits.

Singh said that to his knowledge there were just two deaths confirmed so far and that the spread of the disease had been checked. The situation had been grim mainly atQureshi Nagar. ``We cannot keep a count of cases private doctors,'' he said.

Also, it is learnt that the reason behind the outbreak is ostensibly the bad water supply which the area received two day's prior to Eid-Ul-Fitr.