The second wave of COVID-19 largely affected many parts of India specially the state of Maharashtra which recorded highest covid cases. However, Asia's largest slum Dharavi which is located in Mumbai did not a surge in cases in second wave despite having at least 850,000 people with a population density of 354,167 per square km.
As per a case study, the reason behind it is the high prevalence of antibodies from natural infections among residents staying in the slum. A research paper published in European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences found out that the high prevalence of antibodies has helped.
In the month of April, only seven cases were being reported per million population in Dharavi and the state was reporting 507 cases per million and India 257 cases per million. The second wave had led to crisis situation leaving the patients to deal with scarcity of beds in hospitals and oxygen.
Notably, during the first wave in May 2020, Dharavi was a hotspot of infections reporting 48 cases per million on average.
According to researchers, there is high seropositivity in Dharavi. The first round of serosurvey in the area in July 2020 found seropositivity of 57% there. This reduced to 45% in the October round of the survey, which the researchers have attributed to diminishing levels of antibodies.
The research was conducted by Food and Energy Security Research and Product Centre, Japan, along with Deepali Bharadwaj, a Delhi-based doctor.
After reporting up to 99 COVID-19 cases daily in April, Dharavi has seen a gradual drop in single-day infections - below 5 - in the last couple of days with the tally of patients under treatment dropping to 50, marking a turnaround in the second wave. The 'Dharavi model' of COVID-19 management and the vaccination drive have helped in successfully containing the second wave in the area, officials said.
A steady drop in coronavirus cases in Dharavi, a sprawling and congested shanty town which was once a COVID-19 hotspot, has brought huge relief to the civic authorities in Mumbai.
