The mobile units are also conducting tests of drivers, hawkers, owners and workers of commercial establishments in the area. (Representational) After a gap of 37 days, Dharavi in Mumbai recorded a double-digit Covid-19 case count, at 10, on Wednesday. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the slums-dominated locality has reported 4,041 cases since the inception of the Covid outbreak. However, it has only 33 active cases presently.
Since the second week of February this year, cases have gradually been rising in Dharavi. Fearing an uncontrollable hike, the civic body started to dispatch mobile RT-PCR testing vans to pockets that have been reporting cases lately, so that high-risk contacts of Covid patients may be tested. The mobile units are also conducting tests of drivers, hawkers, owners and workers of commercial establishments in the area.
At the beginning of May last year, 43 daily cases were being reported in Dharavi on an average. By June 8, the average number of cases came down to 27 and by August, the case count came down to single digits, with the exception of a few days in between.
Since November 2020, the area has been reporting cases in single digits, with the exception of four days — November 21, December 2, January 13 and January 17.
On January 17, Dharavi reported ten new cases and the daily infection count since then has been in single digits, with the area even reporting zero cases on some days. On December 25, Dharavi had not recorded a single new case for the first time since its first case on April 1 last year. Since then, Dharavi has not reported new cases five times — January 22, January 26, January 27, January 31 and on February 2.