Slum pockets in Pune fast emerge as Covid-19 hotspots

Umesh Isalkar | TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 05:51 IST

The increasing cases of Covid-19 among the slum-dwellers have triggered the fear of a quick spread of the virus in the densely populated pockets.

The increasing cases of Covid-19 among the slum-dwellers have triggered the fear of a quick spread of the viru...Read More

PUNE: The slums are emerging as the hotspots of the spread of the novel coronavirus in the city.
This trend, experts said, could be dangerous to the city’s fight against the contagion. Complete lockdown within the affected slums, along with providing institutional quarantine care to even the lower-risk contacts could rein in the spread, the experts said.

Three persons including two slum-dwellers succumbed to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19)-associated complications at different hospitals in the city over the weekend, pushing up the number of casualties from the infection to five.
“We have so far reported about 10 positive cases from five slum areas in Pune. Three residents who succumbed to Covid-19 in Pune during the past three days are residents of slumss. In fact, most of the positive cases are now being seen from the low income groups,” a civic health official said.
The five slums in Pune that have so far reported Covid-19 positive cases are Kashewadi(Bhawani Peth), Laxminagar (Yerawada), Parvatigaon (above the canal side) in Parvati, Meentai Thakeray (Gultekdi) and Sayyednagar(Hadapsar).
The increasing cases of Covid-19 among the slum-dwellers have triggered the fear of a quick spread of the virus in the densely populated pockets and underlined the need for rapid containment measures.
Senior public health expert Subhash Salunkhe, technical adviser to the state government on infectious diseases, has underlined stringent cluster containment measures in the 3km periphery of the affected slums to contain the spread of the infection.
“Strict cluster containment measures should be implemented to contain the virus as its spread can be quick like wildfire in densely-populated slums,” Salunke said.
Another public health expert underlined the need for institutional quarantine even the lower risk contacts of positive cases.
“Currently, only the high-risk contacts — the immediate family members of the positive cases and symptomatic contacts — are put into institutional quarantine at designated isolation facilities and low risk contacts who the infected person has not much mingled are asked to remain home-quarantined for 14 days. But these low risk contacts do not follow the quarantine norms and keep on mingling with others. Hence, these low risk contacts living in slums should also be quarantined for 14 days not in hospitals but in some other dedicated quarantine facilities," the expert said.
The city had reported its first Covid-19 death on March 30, when a 52-year-old man from Thane, who was staying at his in-laws’ home in Erandwane, succumbed to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) infection-associated complications at Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital. A 50-year-old woman from Raviwar Peth was the city’s second Covid-19 casualty when she died at Sassoon hospital on April 2.