By Arré Bench Jun. 08, 2020
With 85,975 coronavirus cases, Maharashtra has surpassed China which has so far reported 83,000-odd cases. But despite the daunting numbers, there’s some good news. Dharavi has shown signs of flattening the curve with drop in Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Maharashtra is the state with the highest number of positive coronavirus in India, with the figure currently sitting at 85,975 as of Sunday. Even as India became the country with the fifth-highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, the state of Maharashtra crossed China in terms of its coronavirus cases. But despite these daunting numbers, not all is bleak. Mumbai, which itself accounts for more than half of Maharashtra’s total cases, with 48,774 cases in total recorded on Sunday, saw some good news when it was reported that Dharavi, a local hotspot, had witnessed a slight flattening in the growth curve of fresh cases.
With a drop in #Covid19 cases and deaths, Dharavi shows signs of flattening the curvehttps://t.co/5FiyUwp62O pic.twitter.com/as5baM4H2C
— HTMumbai (@HTMumbai) June 8, 2020
Dharavi had witnessed its first coronavirus case on April 1, and since then, the slum, considered Asia’s largest with an estimated population of close to one million, had grown to become a hotspot within the city of Mumbai. Along with the neighbourhoods of Mahim and Dadar, Dharavi contributed to making G-Ward (North) the most affected ward in all of Mumbai’s 24 civic wards. Between May 10 and 16, it recorded an average of 52 coronavirus cases in a day. But finally, that upward trajectory seems to be slowing. On June 1, 34 people from Dharavi had tested positive for Covid-19, but by Sunday, that number had come down to 10.
While 34 people tested positive for coronavirus on June 1, the number has now come down to 10https://t.co/IYqoz9pSay
— Livemint (@livemint) June 7, 2020
Kiran Dighavkar, a civic official with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) who operates in G-Ward (North), told the news agency PTI, “Dharavi has not reported a single death in the last six days, which is the first major indicator that we are on the right track. The number of people getting discharged is also increasing.”
« Dharavi has not reported a single death in the last six days, which is the first major indicator that we are on the right track. The number of people getting discharged is also increasing, » https://t.co/hygAHVNAet
— H24 News India (@h24news_in) June 7, 2020
As nearly a week goes by without any coronavirus-related deaths in Dharavi, the recovery rate of infected patients has also seen a corresponding increase. Out of a reported 1,899 patients in Dharavi, BMC officials have declared that 939 of them have made a successful recovery. Speaking about the BMC’s plan of action in tackling the outbreak, Dighavkar said, “With the help of fever clinics, we could identify the people showing symptoms similar to that of coronavirus infection. We isolated them immediately which helped in either containing further transmission of the virus or spreading any kind of infection from those who are feeling unwell.”
In apparent signs of flattening of the #coronavirus curve, Dharavi, believed to be Asia’s largest slum located in Mumbai and also a hotspot, has reported not a single #COVID19 death in the last six days while 939 of the total 1,899 patients have recovered. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/sg8aBxEE0q
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) June 7, 2020
The apparent flattening of the curve in Dharavi is an encouraging sign for Mumbai, and Maharashtra as a whole, as the city and state attempt to find their feet while the lockdown is being gradually lifted.
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