15 new cases in Dharavi; 3 in Worli

Fifteen new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Dharavi on Sunday, taking the total count in the area to 43. The most-affected ward, G south (covering areas like

Fifteen new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Dharavi on Sunday, taking the total count in the area to 43. The most-affected ward, G south (covering areas like Worli and Lower Parel), saw a marginal rise of three Covid-19 positive patients on Sunday.

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Civic officials said the rise in the number of cases in Dharavi is becoming a cause for concern. Of the 15 new cases in the country’s largest slum, nine were already quarantined at a facility set up by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as they were high-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients from Madina Nagar, Muslim Nagar, and Social Nagar.

Apart from these, six cases were found from a fresh slum pocket, Shastri Nagar, where no previous case of Covid-19 was reported. The remaining two cases have been reported from Janata housing society. All 15 new patients (13 men, 2 women) are aged between 18 and 66.

In all, there are 13 areas of Dharavi where 43 positive cases have been found. Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G North ward, said, “Our health staff is visiting slums in Dharavi and conducting door-to-door surveys of residents.”

Since Saturday, the BMC has screened 7,135 residents of Dharavi, of which 82 were referred for testing and swab samples of 40 people have been collected. Meanwhile, in G South ward, only three new cases were reported, taking the count to 246.

On April 7, the total number of cases in G South ward was 133, which rose to 184 the next day (increase of 51 cases), followed by 199 cases on April 9 (increase of 15 cases) and 243 cases on April 10 (increase of 44 cases).

As per BMC data, seven wards, including G south, have recorded more than 50 cases of Covid-19 patients each. Wards like L (Kurla, Sakinaka) and M East (Govandi, Mankhurd) have reported 26 and 22 Covid-19 cases respectively in less than 24 hours.

Two more cases of Covid-19 were reported in Dadar on Sunday. A 52-year-old woman from Ambedkar Nagar and a 48-year-old man from Kasarwadi tested positive.