Mumbai’s Dharavi slums crosses 100-mark with 10 coronavirus deaths

The number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai’s Dharavi – Asia’s largest slum – has crossed the 100-mark. 15 new cases were detected in the sprawling area on Friday, taking the total to 101, including 10 deaths.

A 62-year-old patient died because of the virus at a hospital, news agency PTI reported. Three new cases each were found in Matunga labour camp, Muslim Nagarand Indira Nagar, two at Social Nagar and one each at Dr Baliga Nagar, Laxmi Chawl, Janata society and Sarvoday Society.

In the densely populated Dharavi, around 8 lakh people live in shanties packed close together, making social distancing difficult.

The area has been categorised as a hotspot. Last week the civic authorities had said that nine containment zones were identified in Dharavi to check the spread of the virus in the slums. The police have also barricaded entry points to stop movement to contain the disease.

The residents of the area are not being allowed to step out of their houses; essentials are being provided at their doorstep.

Mumbai with 2,073 coronavirus cases is the worst affected city in the country; Maharashtra the worst hit state. The city of 1.2 crore has been under complete lockdown since last month.

In view of the rising cases, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier this week extended the lockdown till April 30. He also explained why Mumbai has such a high number of cases.

“In Mumbai and Pune, especially Mumbai, there are big airports. It is actually the place through which people enter the country. Symbolically it is like the Gateway of India. When we started screening several countries were not in the list of screening but those countries also had been affected by the coronavirus,” he had said.

Local authorities have also attributing the high COVID-19 numbers in Mumbai to their massive testing drive.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday claimed that it had conducted over 27,000 COVID-19 tests, which is 12.59 per cent of the total number of tests carried out in the country so far.