As Maharashtra continues to grapple with COVID-19, Worli and Dharavi, which were once hotspots for the deadly virus, are now witnessing a constant decline in the number of daily cases, and a slowdown in doubling rate.
Worli suburb has reported nearly 35 to 40 cases every day in June, compared to a worrying 60 in May.
The average new cases in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, have reduced from 47 in May to 27 in June. The doubling rate of cases has also slowed down to 44 days for Worli and 38 days for Dharavi.
The growth rates in both areas have come down to 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively, the lowest in the city.
‘We have separated suspected patients from the community on a timely basis, conducted screenings and aggressive testing and organised fever camps. We have identified people who were using common toilets and home quarantined them also,’ Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G North Ward of BMC, said on Sunday.
Dharavi has reported at least 1,924 cases and 71 deaths. However, it reported only 12 fresh cases on Monday.
Dighavkar said that of the 1,924 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has already put nearly 70% in quarantine. ‘We will keep doing that until there are zero cases in Dharavi,’ Dighavkar said.
‘Densely-populated slums such as Jijamata Nagar and Worli-Koliwada had the maximum cases being reported every day, but as of today, these slums have nil or minimal cases,’ Sharad Ughade, assistant municipal commissioner of G South Ward, said. ‘We focused not only on recovery but also on prevention.’
Dr Om Srivastav, one of the doctors appointed by the state to control the mortality rate, said, ‘If residents continue to follow what they have been doing in the past eight weeks, such as wearing masks, sanitising hands and following social distancing norms, then we should be able to manage to flatten the curve.’
Maharashtra on Monday reported 2,553 new COVID-19 cases taking the state’s tally to 88,528. Active cases in the state however, stand at 44,374 and 40,975 patients have been discharged so far.
