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Dharavi Records 12 New Covid-19 Infections, Including One Death

As many as 11 people were infected by the novel coronavirus in Dharavi today, which also claimed the life of one person.

Swab collection at a health camp at Dr. Baliga Nagar in Dharavi, Mumbai. (Source: BMC)
Swab collection at a health camp at Dr. Baliga Nagar in Dharavi, Mumbai. (Source: BMC)

As many as 11 people were infected by the novel coronavirus in Dharavi today, which also claimed the life of one person, increasing the number of total confirmed infections to 180 in Mumbai’s biggest slum despite the lockdown.

A 62-year-old man from Mukund Nagar area of Dharavi was declared dead, said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner in charge of the G/North Ward in Central Mumbai.

Of the remaining 11 cases, five cases were reported from Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, four from Muslim Nagar and two from Madina Nagar, Dighavkar said.

Among the latest to test positive for Covid-19 are three women aged between 18 years and 46 years and nine men aged between 2 years and 62 years.

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So far, 12 people have died because of complications related to the novel coronavirus in Dharavi, a sprawl of shanties spread over 240 hectares with a population of 8.5 lakh and over 13,000 small businesses.

Nearly 62 percent of the Covid-19 infections in Dharavi are from five high-risk zones of which 83 have been selected proactively through fever camps or community screenings who were quarantined to contain the virus spread, he said.

Dighavkar said yesterday that the BMC would contain these pockets by providing essentials, including food packets, groceries and medicines, at their doorsteps. “We have also organised dedicated fever camps in the area. Further, with the help of 24 private doctors we have formed 10 teams and did fever screenings in all these pockets,” he had said.

The success of the fever camp/community screening is that we were able isolate most of the positive cases from high risk zones, he had said yesterday. So far we have able to contain the spread in these five zones only. “Rest of the cases outside zones had valid high risk contacts outside the ward.”

  • Total number of cases: 168.
  • Total number of tests in Dharavi : 657.
  • Total containment zones: 37
  • Total food distribution: 2.54 lakh (12,000 each for lunch and dinner).
  • Groceries: 19,000 packets.
  • Medicines : 1.89 lakh.

(Data as on Monday, April 20, 2020)

According to Maharashtra health ministry’s media bulletin on Tuesday, 552 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the state taking the tally to 5,218 cases. The total number of cases in Mumbai stands at 3,451.