Mumbai’s Dharavi slum continued to be in the grip of coronavirus on Friday, as the pandemic claimed one more life taking the number of deaths to 14 and left six more persons infected contributing to the rise in Covid-19 cases to 220 in Asia’s largest slum.
Though there was a drop in the number of cases from Thursday’s count of 25 to six on Friday, there was no let up in the incidence of the pandemic.
A-60 year-old woman died of Covid at Dharavi’s Gopinath Colony on Friday. With the latest death, the total number of deaths in this densely populated slum has risen to 14.
On Friday, fresh infected cases were reported from the areas of Kalyanwadi, Janta Nagar, Banwari compound gully and Maluna Azad Nagar. Among the newly infected persons, five were women, while one was a 36-year-old man. Those infected were in the age group of 36 to 43 years.
On Thursday, as many as 25 infected cases and one death had been reported from Dharavi.
Spread over 240 hectare area, Dharavi is one of the Covid-19 hotspots in Mumbai.
Ever since first few cases of Coronavirus were reported in the early first week of April, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is closely monitoring the situation in Dharavi where the health authorities have clamped a total lockdown.
The pandemic cases have been reported from most parts of Dharavi, a fact that has triggered considerable anxiety among the health authorities who are taking all measures to ensure against the community spread of the pandemic in this densely populated slum.
On its part, local doctors as well the ones from the BMC have held several fever clinics in this slum.
Apart from enforcing strict social distancing norms, the police and health authorities have been using drones to monitor the activities in Dharavi. Located between Western Railway’s Bandra-Matunga and Central Railway’s Sion-Matunga stations in north-central Mumbai, Dharavi is home to more than 4 lakh people.