Two years after pandemic outbreak, Dharavi free of COVID-19

Last year, Dharavi became a hotspot of coronavirus infections in the beginning of April.

Mumbai's slum colony of Dharavi, once a coronavirus hotspot and a challenge for municipal authorities in implementing containment measures, has become free of COVID-19, nearly two years after reporting the first case of the infection.

The sprawling and congested shanty town, said to be Asia's largest, achieved the distinction on Thursday when no new coronavirus patient was found in Dharavi and at the same time there was no active case in the area, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official.

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G-North ward, which houses Dharavi, said for the first time since the outbreak of coronavirus in 2020, the slum- dominated area has no active case.

''Today Dharavi is Covid-free in true sense,'' Dighavkar told PTI.

The third wave of the pandemic has receded as no new coronavirus cases were found in the last two weeks in Dharavi and all patients under treatment were discharged, he said, adding no one is under home quarantine for the disease.

Nearly 20 days after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Mumbai on March 11, 2020, Dharavi reported its first coronavirus patient on April 1, 2020.

The overall tally of COVID-19 cases in Dharavi stood at 8,233, while the death toll was 419, as per official data.

Dighavkar said though Dharavi has become free of COVID-19, they are focusing on inoculation of children (aged 12 and above) and giving precautionary doses to eligible beneficiaries.

''Free coronavirus testing facilities are still available at our health posts and dispensary in Dharavi. Our focus now is on vaccination of kids and giving booster doses,'' he said.

The slum-dominated area had logged the highest-ever 150 COVID-19 cases on January 6 during the third wave before the infection graph started going down. Last year, Dharavi became a hotspot of coronavirus infections in the beginning of April. It reported 99 COVID-19 cases on April 8, 2021.

In the second half of 2021, Dharavi, however, had reported zero daily cases on several days.

Located at the north end of the island city, Dharavi has a population of around 6.5 lakh and is spread across 2.5 sq km area.