Mumbai: While the frontline workers attached with the G (North) ward which constitutes Dharavi, Dadar and Mahim have praised across the country for their efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus in Dharavi, the team has yet another challenge ready before them. After containing the spread of Covid19 in Dharavi, the ward is witnessing a steady rise in the number of cases in Dadar and Mahim.
To break the chain of Coronavirus, there was a complete lockdown imposed in the affected areas and those declared as containment zones. In the past month, local markets opened and life was slowly getting back to normal. However, with this, the number of cases of Covid-19 too is on the rise, officials said.
As per the BMC data, the cases coronavirus have been spiking in areas around Mahim and Dadar. As on July 14, Dadar reported 31 new cases taking its tally to 1218, while Mahim reported 28 new cases following which its cumulative case count jumped to 1403. Whereas Dharavi has reported only 11 be cases on Tuesday.
As on Tuesday, the Dadar and Mahim have 350 and 267 active Covid-19 cases respectively whereas Dharavi has only 86 active cases remaining of its total cumulative number of cases of 2392. Exactly a month ago, on June 14, Dadar had total 515 Covid-19 cases of which 226 were cured and discharged. Meanwhile, Mahim had reported 759 cases with totally 333 people discharged.
Even as the overall growth rate of the G (North) ward has been gradually coming down with case statistics improving in Dharavi, a number of cases reported in Dadar and Mahim on a daily basis are being a spoiler for the wards efforts to contain the spread. The assistant Municipal Commissioner of G North ward Kiran Dighavkar attributed the rise in the number of cases in Dadar and Mahim to relaxation in lockdown since the month of June. "Dadar especially is a traditional market area with high number of vendors. All these markets were shut during the lockdown and started reopening from June 1. As soon as the easing of lockdown began in the first week of June, people started to move around frequently with some even calling back their house help and maids. Besides, vegetable and fruit markets began to reopen too in the first week of June. With labourers and traders coming back to work from various parts of the city, cases started spiking," Dighavkar told the Free Press Journal.
However, Dighavkar said his team has intensified the testing and screening process in the two areas and they complete screening of entire Mahim and Dadar by next week. He said, "Cases will rise in the next few days as we have started aggressive screening. Dadar and Mahim have a population of 1.5 lakh each and is not as congested as Dharavi. We have set up fever camps under every building and every locality people will be screened there along with getting their oxygen checked too."
