( May 19, 2020 )
Covid-19 infections continue to mount in Asia’s most crowded slum, just as India further relaxed a nationwide lockdown to boost economic activities.
Dharavi recorded 26 fresh coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the total tally to 1,353, according to data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Among the latest to test positive are women aged between 20 and 70 years and males aged between 5 and 85 years, said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner in charge of the G/North Ward in Central Mumbai.
So far, 56 people in Dharavi—a sprawl of shanties spread over 240 hectares with a population of 8.5 lakh and over 13,000 small businesses—have succumbed to the virus.
“Under Mission Dharavi, we are making sure that maximum people shall be screened and suspects are quarantined and tested. A total of 360,000 people screened and counting,” said Dighavkar. “Screening maximum people from multiple sources as many times as possible and isolating them and testing them is the only way to tackle this pandemic at a place like Dharavi.”
There are multiple ways of screening people in Dharavi, according to Dighavkar:
Of the 26 fresh cases reported today:
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra now has 35,058 coronavirus cases. India’s tally crossed the 1-lakh mark today.