Coronavirus in Maharashtra: With 30 new cases, Dharavi reports highest covid tally since September

Mumbai’s Dharavi area which had turned into one of the biggest hotspots of Coronavirus in the first wave of Covid-19 last year, registered 30 new positive cases on Thursday. The daily number of cases reported on Thursday was highest since September last year. With the addition of new cases, the total active cases in the slum dominated region has climbed to 140. The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that on February 26 the area had only 51 active cases but in less than a month, the number of active cases has gone up by almost three times, the Indian Express reported.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data, the total number of Coronavirus cases reported in the region so far is 4328. Having successfully weeded out Coronavirus from the densely populated slum area during last year, the BMC has again started screening of the entire population in the slum area on ground footing. At its peak, the Dharavi region used to report an average of 43 new cases every day in the month of May last year. The number gradually reduced to 27 in June and had further come down to single digit in the month of August.

The rise in Coronavirus cases in the Dharavi area is as sudden as it is across the country in the second wave. Only this year, on four days of January 2021-January 22, 26, 27 and 31- the area did not report even a single case of Coronavirus. No new case of Coronavirus was also registered on February 1. However, since the second week of February, a sudden spike in the number of Coronavirus cases was reported from the area.