Only 5 new cases in Dharavi

Dharavi, one of India’s largest slum cluster which was a Covid-19 hotspot till recently, recorded only five cases on Tuesday, the lowest in a a day since April 10.

Dharavi, one of India’s largest slum cluster which was a Covid-19 hotspot till recently, recorded only five cases on Tuesday, the lowest in a a day since April 10. One death was also recorded, taking the toll to 81. So far, almost 10,000 individuals have been tested for Covid and 2,189 have tested positive.

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Dharavi’s average daily cases have come down from 47 in May to 18 in June. The cases had hit a peak in the start of May, with 94 cases recorded in a day on May 3. The number started plunging since June 1. The highest number of cases in June did not go beyond 34, recorded on June 1.

Dharavi’s doubling rate has gone up to 102 days, highest ever in the city. The doubling rate is the number of days required for the cases to double

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G-North ward (Dharavi), said, “We have actively followed our model of four Ts – tracing, tracking, testing and treating. Our focus was on treatment and discharge. We took up several other measures like isolating maximum people and door-to-door screening in slums.”

The Dharavi slum is spread over 2.4 sqkm, has 850,000 residents and a population density of 354,167 per square kilometre, making it one of the more cramped spaces in Mumbai, itself the world’s fifth most densely populated city.