Asia’s largest slum recorded 53 more cases on Saturday taking the tally in Dharavi to 1,198. With no new deaths reported, the toll in the area remains 53. There is no let up in cases even as the civic body claims to have intensified quarantining people to break the chain of infection. Nearly 69% of the cases have been reported in May.
Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said Dharavi’s geography and density pose a challenge. “Most people in the slum share tiny rooms on a shift basis. But with the lockdown, they are all at home now. We are aggressively quarantining contacts of positive patients as that is the only way to reduce the cases,” said Mr. Kakani adding that after similar measures were taken in Worli, some of its dense localities have not reported new cases in the past 10 days. “We are hoping for a similar trend in Dharavi,” he said.
Of the new cases reported on Saturday, the youngest was a 17-year-old girl from Dargah Chawl, while the oldest was a 75-year-old woman from Kanchikurve Nagar. Other cases were reported from Azad Nagar, Shahu Nagar, Matunga Labour Camp, Kumbharwada, and Kamla Nehru Nagar. A 60-year-old man from Dr. Baliga Nagar also tested positive on Saturday.
Dharavi’s first patient was reported on April 1 was a man from Dr. Baliga Nagar after which the civic officials had aggressively sanitised the area. “We have got a case from Dr. Baliga Nagar after a long gap. The patient was on chemotherapy in a medical facility,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of G North ward. He said that most of the positive cases are being reported from quarantine facilities and containment areas within the slum. Dharavi has a capacity of 3,740 quarantine beds.
