Dharavi sees lowest new cases in 49 days

Spread over an area of 2.5 sq km and considered one of the biggest slums in Asia, Dharavi has been witnessing an uptick in cases since the last week of February, 2021, when the second wave of the pandemic began sweeping through the state.

In a relief to civic officials as well as the residents, Dharavi, the slum-dominated area under G/North ward, on Tuesday recorded just 18 new Covid-19 cases — the lowest in 49 days.

Spread over an area of 2.5 sq km and considered one of the biggest slums in Asia, Dharavi has been witnessing an uptick in cases since the last week of February, 2021, when the second wave of the pandemic began sweeping through the state.

At present, Dharavi has 950 active cases. The area recorded 25 new infections on Monday.

The number of daily cases in Dharavi had been below 30 since September last year, with no new cases reported in a period of 24 hours on six occasions — once in December, four times in January and once in February.

But since the uptick in daily cases, Dharavi has seen 54 new cases on an average every day. On April 8, it recorded its highest single-day tally at 99 cases.

New cases in other two areas of G/North Ward — Dadar and Mahim – have also seen a dip in the last 24 hours. While Dadar recorded 36 new cases on Tuesday, for Mahim the figure stood at 30. As of April 27, Dadar has 2,354 active cases while Mahim has 2,427 active cases.

Average new cases in the two areas have hovered around 99-101 in the last few weeks.

BMC officials said they were working hard to increase vaccination rate at Dharavi and for the purpose, a vaccination centre at Chhota Sion Hospital — an urban health centre – was opened on March 22. After a tepid initial response, when only around a 100 people would turn up in the first 10 days, vaccination figures have picked up in April with as many as 500 inoculations taking place on April 8, said a civic official.

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