After successfully managing to flatten the COVID-19 curve despite its high population density, Asia’s largest slum Dharavi, has seen a spike in the last few days.
After a gap of 55 days, Dharavi registered 33 coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally in the area to 2,883.
The number of active cases in the area, spanning over 2.5 square kilometres and a population over 6.5 lakh, went up to 124 on September 10.
On July 19, Dharavi had recorded 36 cases. The daily increase in the cases then fell and remained in the range of 1 to 20 for nearly two months.
Meanwhile, reacting to the recent spike in the cases, Kiran Dighavkar, Asst Municipal Commissioner, G north ward told FPJ, "Its too early to say if there's any spike in the Dharavi area. On Friday, 33 cases were detected, which is the highest number in more than last two months. This happens when a group of people in a family or an office are found positive suddenly. We need to assess the numbers for couple of days then only we can say whether it's a spike or not"
The BMC officials have said that the recent increase in the cases was due to increased testing.
A senior state official said that there isn't a second COVID-19 wave hitting Dharavi. He added, "It is just a blip from the plateau that Mumbai had settled into for two months."
(With inputs from Pratip Acharya)
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