Mumbai From Kurla in central Mumbai, Antop Hill and Wadala running north-south to the eastern side of the Harbour Railway line, to Mandanpura in Byculla, Mumbai slums are emerging as hotbeds for Covid19 and are adding to the rising cases of infections in the city.
As per the ward wise data released by the BMC, municipal wards dominated by slum pockets are now showing a steep rise in the number of positive coronavirus cases.
While the BMC is already racing against time to contain rapidly increasing cases in densely populated Dharavi, other slum areas like Kurla, Sakinaka, Govandi, Antop Hill, Wadala have now emerged as virus clusters.
Six wards such as E ward (Nagpada, Madanpura)- 368, L ward (Kurla) -267, F (north) ward (Antop hill, Wadala) - 260, G (North) Ward (Dharavi, Mahim, Shivaji Park) - 257, M (East) ward (Govandi, Deonar) -166, H (East) ward (Bandra east) - 165, account for 40 per cent of total cases (3754) analysed as on April 22.
Last week on April 16 L ward comprising of Kurla had registered 98 cases, as on April 22, the cases have increased to 267. Similarly, F (North) ward (Antop Hill, Wadala) had 74 cases on April 16, within a week the number of positive cases in the ward spiked to 260.
These areas have become a huge concern for the civic body. Kurla, in central suburbs, has double the city's density - 54,438 people per square metre. " This is almost 50 times the population density of Wuhan in China, where coronavirus cases originated," said a senior BMC official.
Kurla comprises of 80 per cent slum population and only 20 per cent non-slum housing societies located close to the plush corporate area of Bandra-Kurla complex. Similarly, division of slum and non-slum areas in Antop hill is 75- 25. The area which falls between the Matunga-Wadala-Sion belt has seen Covid19 cases tripling in the last four days.
Initially, D ward ( Malabar hill, Walkeshwar) having affluent and plush housing societies and very less chunk of slum population, was the third most affected ward across the city. D ward remained third worst affected ward for weeks until April 16.
Gradually, due to the rise in the number of cases in Dharavi, G (North) ward replaced D ward. However, in 24 hours on April 22, L ward (Kurla) replaced it. E (Ward) having thick slum pockets like Nagpada, Dongri, Mandapura, which recorded 172 cases until April 16, has recorded 368 cases, making it the second-worst hit wards in the city.
M (east) one of the poorest areas in the city comprising of Govandi, Shivaji Nagar, Deonar has recorded 116 cases as on April 22. Meanwhile, G (South) ward (Worli, Elphinstone, Prabhadevi) remain on the top of the list with the highest number of coronavirus positive cases. The G (South) alone registered 507 cases until Thursday. "
There is a spurt in cases especially in wards dominated by slum pockets, we have been taking measures like sealing entire slums areas as we have done in Dharavi and Worli Koliwada. We are providing essential items like food etc to the public inside these areas as and when needed. Regular health camps are being organised.
Strict lockdown measures have been implemented. However social distancing in slums are actually impossible. Hence we immediately move both high-risk and low-risk contacts of positive coronavirus cases to institutional isolation centres" said a senior BMC official.
