Covid-19: Mumbai’s Dharavi slum cluster reports 4th death

Covid-19 in India: The cramped slum cluster of Dharavi saw its fourth death on a day the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started screening around 700,000 residents of the area – an exercise that is expected to take around two weeks to complete.

India’s financial capital continued to reel under the burden of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with 138 new cases and 12 deaths reported on Saturday and the state government saying it will focus on urban areas to contain the rapid spread of the infection.

Doctors of Indian Medical Association conducted door to door screening camp, following COVID 19 pandemic at Dharavi in Mumbai. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The cramped slum cluster of Dharavi saw its fourth death on a day the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started screening around 700,000 residents of the area – an exercise that is expected to take around two weeks to complete. The number of cases in Mumbai stands at 1,146 and the death toll at 76.

The 240-hectare slum pocket has 850,000 residents and a population density of 66,000 per square kilometre, making it one of the most congested spaces in Mumbai. Activists and health workers had expressed concerns over how social distancing is practically impossible in an area where an average of 10-12 people live in each of the 57,000 housing units measuring around 250 sqft.

Health minister Rajesh Tope indicated that if the country were divided into three zones, Mumbai will fall in the red zone, which is earmarked for the regions with the maximum cases and deaths, where the most stringent restrictions on movement and transport is imposed. “Our thrust is to neutralise the less-affected districts in the next few days and contain the virus spread in the cities in next eight days. We have intensified our strategy in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune,” said a senior state government official.

The state, which is the worst hit in India, reported 187 cases and 17 deaths on Saturday. A total of 208 patients have been discharged across the state till date after full recovery. In Maharashtra, 38,800 people are in home quarantine and 4,964 people are in institutional quarantine.

The state has eight districts (Nandurbar, Solapur, Parbhani, Nanded, Wardha, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli) with no positive cases and Tope indicated these areas may see a relaxation of restrictions in the second phase of lockdown.

“The number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients is rising rapidly, although most of them are in Mumbai. The authorities have started working proactively to trace and test suspected people, so as to avoid multiplication of virus cases. I am confident that the chain of the spread of the infection will be broken soon,” chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said.

Of the 17 deaths reported on Saturday, 12 were in Mumbai, two in Pune and one each in Satara , Dhule and Malegaon. Six of them were aged above 60 years, eight between 40 and 60 years, while the remaining were less than 40 years. Sixteen of the 17 people who died had underlying illnesses like asthma, diabetes, heart ailments and blood pressure, the government said.