Mumbai's Dharavi records zero Covid-19 cases for second consecutive day

NEW DELHI: Good news pours in as one of Asia's largest slum that is Mumbai's Dharavi recorded zero cases of COVID-19 for the second day in a row.

As per the official data by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, it informed, "Mumbai's Dharavi records zero cases of COVID-19 for the second day. Active cases stand at 11. Total cases in Dharavi stand at 6,861."

Dharavi on Monday reported zero COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the first time since February 2 this year.

Dharavi's Assistant Municipal Commissioner (G North Ward) Kiran Dighavkar had said, "It was in February when we last reported zero cases and then today we have no cases reported. Initially, during the outbreak of COVID-19, it was tough to control the spread because people live in large numbers here and the area also has a number of small scale industries, textile factories etc."

"The Dharavi residents use common toilets too, so the task was indeed challenging. During the first and second waves, we had made arrangements of quarantine centres and isolation facilities. We were doing tracing, testing and treatment for people on a regular basis as well as carried out door-to-door testing on a regular basis", he said yesterday.

Dharavi which has a population of about 10 lakh densely packed into an area of 2.1 square kilometers had reported its first COVID-19 case on April 1 last year. On April 8 this year, it recorded its highest-ever single day spike of 99 cases during the second wave of the virus outbreak.

Earlier on Monday, Vijay Wadetttiwar, state minister for Disaster Management and Rehabilitation had said: "Dharavi is Asia's largest slum and logged zero cases of COVID-19 in a single day. It is a clear indicator that Mumbai is recovering well. Credits for this go to Mumbai authorities for better COVID management and Dharavi residents. It is a clear indicator that Mumbai is strongly fighting against COVID-19."

In the first wave of the Covid pandemic, the number of daily cases dipped below 30 after September 2020, with no new cases reported in a period of 24 hours on six occasions. Zero cases were reported once in December 2020 and on four days in January and once in February this year.

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