Mumbai: In a major development on Friday, Dharavi recorded 11 positive coronavirus cases in 15 hours, taking the tally in the slum-dominated area to 28. Two of 11 tested positive on Friday belong to Tablighi Jamaat and had reportedly returned from the last month's religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz in New Delhi.
"Two persons belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat, who were residents of two different societies in Dharavi and had returned from Markaz (Tablighi Jamaat's event at its headquarters in Nizamuddin, Delhi), were found positive. After tracing them we had quarantined them," said Assistant Municipal Commissioner of G (North) ward Kiran Dighavkar.
He added, "One of them is a resident of a society opposite Dr Baliga Nagar which is already sealed, while the other is from PMGP colony in Dharavi. The duo were already quarantined at the Rajiv Gandhi sports complex and has been shifted to Sion Andheri PWD guest house.
According to the Shahu Nagar police and BMC, there are total of 18 people belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat in their list, who had returned from the infamous Markaz event in New Delhi last month. All 18 were traced by the BMC and the Police and were quarantined. Sixteen others are still at the Rajiv Gandhi sports complex quarantine centre.
"These 18 are not part of the group of 12 which returned from the Markaz and lived in a flat in Dr Baliga Nagar and later left for Kerala. They belong to the Tablighi Jamaat, had attended the Markaz event, but are residents of Dharavi," said a police officer from the Shahu Nagar Police station in Dharavi.
According to the officials, among the 11 tested positive on Friday, three are women. One of them, aged 29, is the wife of a doctor who tested positive earlier in Vaibhav Nagar, another one, aged 31, is a resident of the Kalyanwadi in Dharavi and the third one is a 40-year-old woman from Mukund Nagar slum.
While five patients tested positive earlier in the day, six other cases came to light later in the evening. Of these six patients, five are residents of Mukund Nagar, while the sixth case detected in the evening was a 26-yearold man, a resident of Rajiv Gandhi Nagar chawl.
The five people who tested positive from Mukund Nagar slum where maximum number of cases (nine) have been reported in the last five days were in home quarantine after they were identified as the low-risk contacts of the previously detected cases in the same locality.
Dighavkar added, "We need to prepare to witness a surge in the number of cases in the next few days as we have adopted aggressive contact tracing regime. We are intensifying the screening process of slum residents. Hence, more number of cases will be detected but that also means will be able to contain any further spread.
