With 16 new Covid cases, Dharavi reports highest daily spike in four months

Dharavi in Mumbai recorded 16 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest daily spike in the area since October last year. The slums-dominated area in the G-north ward had last recorded over 16 cases more than four months ago, on October 23, at 18 Covid-19 cases.

Within a week, the total active cases in Dharavi have risen by 32, with its total active case tally at 51 as of Friday. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the locality has reported 4,041 cases since the inception of the Covid-19 outbreak.

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.

This year, Dharavi has not reported new cases five times — on January 22, January 26, January 27, January 31 and February 2.

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.