Table of Contents
Maharashtra
- As per Health ministry data, Maharashtra has been one of India’s major hot zones with more than 10% of the country’s total coronavirus cases.
- The state also currently accounts for almost 50 % of the deaths.
Mumbai
Dharavi
- In Maharashtra, Mumbai city alone accounts for more than half the cases.
- The number of Covid-19 cases in the Dharavi slum has risen to 13. Deaths -2
- The spread of the virus not just surged in Dharavi but other slum clusters such as Bandra East
World’s Largest slum
- Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, absolutely crucial in the fight against COVID19.
- Almost 15 lakh people live in Dharavi in small shanties, making the 16 sq km slum one of the most densely-populated areas anywhere on earth.
- According to health experts, stopping the virus from breaking loose in Dharavi would be key to preventing hospitals in Mumbai from getting overwhelmed.
- In an area measuring 2.1 sq km, the slum has over 57,000 shanties, huts and small flats, almost all of them illegal.
- An infected person in the slums has contact with at least 30 other people. So, the spread is much higher and tracing teams have to work much harder to trace the contacts of all 30 people as well.
History of Epidemics
- Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics in the past – a widespread plague in 1896 which killed over half of the population of Mumbai.
- Dysentery epidemics have been common throughout the years and explained by the high population density of Dharavi.
- Other reported epidemics include typhoid, cholera, leprosy, amoebiasis and polio.
- Social distancing doesn’t mean much to the residents where 10-12 people live in 10×10 feet ‘room’
Common toilets
- The Slum averages one toilet per 500 people (official figures peg the number at one toilet per 1440 people), and most residents use the nearby Mahim creek for urination and defecation.
- Every morning, people stand in long queues to use the toilets making them susceptible to the infection spread.
Migrants
- Many of the migrant workers living in Dharavi probably left for their villages before the lockdown could be strictly implemented, possibly taking the virus far and wide.
- A bigger number of migrant workers are currently sitting idle in the slum and are being provided food by political parties or some other bodies.
- The fear now is that as soon as the lockdown is lifted, these migrants will leave for their homes in other states, taking the virus deep inside the hinterlands where medical facilities are scarce.
Social and Economic issues
- Many of the shops in Dharavi are illegal, and people do not share information openly.
- Getting accurate information here is the work of a full-time detective.
- There are reports that not many people are readily cooperating with the authorities.
- Officials admit that people are scared of the virus, but they are more scared of losing their jobs and being taken away to quarantine centres.
Steps taken by Authorities
- As of now, about 3,000 residents of the slum have been quarantined.
- BMC has a special plan in place.
- It has created two teams of 25 people each that work round the clock in two shifts.
- These teams include a sanitary inspector, medical officers, police personnel and community volunteers.
- In addition, the ward officer has got on board 800 community health volunteers whose primary responsibility will be to trace vulnerable residents such as senior citizens, patients with respiratory ailments and pregnant women.
- Plan to convert Rajiv Gandhi District Sports club in a quarantine facility with 300 beds.
Strict Lockdown
- BMC has banned all vegetable and fruit markets, hawkers and sellers in containment area or buffer zone in.
- Only the medical outlets were allowed to function in that area.
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