Mumbai: ‘Dharavi model’ helps tame second Covid-19 wave in slum town

After reporting up to 99 Covid19 cases daily in April Mumbais slum colony of Dharavi has seen a gradual drop in singleday 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 waveThe lsquoDharavi modelrsquo of Covid19 management and the vaccination drive have helped in successfully containing the second wave in the area officials saidA steady drop in coronavirus cases in Dharavi a sprawling and congested shanty town which was once a Covid19 hotspot has brought huge relief to the civic authorities in MumbaiBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC officials said the slum cluster spread across 25 square km and located on the border of the island city reported three and four cases on Wednesday and Thursday respectively while Mumbai is still witnessing daily coronavirus cases in four digitsThey said Dharavis active cases have come down to just 50 6398 of the total 6802 Covid19 patients have recovered while 354 have diedThis was in sharp contrast to the adjoining Dadar and Mahim areas which have 204 and 254 active cases respectivelyAlso Read Covid19 Mumbai sees 1266 new cases 36 deathsSince the outbreak of coronavirus in April 2020 the slumdominated area has reported 354 deaths till May 26 Of those 42 fatalities have been recorded since February 7 2021 the officials saidAccording to them the daily Covid19 cases in Dharavi started going up from midFebruary when Mumbai was hit by a second wave of the coronavirus infectionCases in the slumdominated area rose significantly in March and peaked in April when it reported the highest singleday spike of 99 cases on April 8The sharp rise in daily infections pushed the civic authorities to once again fall back on the Dharavi model which involved 4Ts tracing tracking testing and treating a strategy which was praised by the World Health Organisation WHO during the first wave of Covid19Despite a slow spread of the virus in December 2020 and early January 2021 we continued with comprehensive testing and tracking of cases in Dharavi said Kiran Dighavkar assistant municipal commissioner of GNorth ward that houses DharaviWith the onset of the Covid19 second wave in February 2021 the Dharavi Model was activated again to stem the spread of the infection he saidDoortodoor screening of people with symptoms aggressive testing regular screening and testing of Dharavi residents who work in different parts of Mumbai including delivery personnel industrial workers helped to control the spread of the pandemic Dighavkar saidDharavi has a population of 65 lakh which means 227136 people living per sq km Social distancing was next to impossible in Dharavi where families of eight to 10 people live in 10x10 hutmentsApart from congested slum pockets Dharavi is home to several smallscale leather pottery and textile manufacturing unitsThe area has 5000 GSTregistered enterprises 15000 singleroom factories and is a hub of international exports with an annual turnover of 1 billion USD according to BMC dataIn Dharavi the first Covid19 patient was found on April 1 2020 about 20 days after Mumbai reported its first Covid19 caseThereafter the daily Covid19 cases rose sharply and the area was declared a Covid19 hotspotWith a proactive screening of residents with the assistance of private doctors and community support the local body managed to flatten the Covid19 curve last yearAccording to a BMC official the biggest challenge was to maintain hygiene as 80 per cent the population is dependent on 450 community toiletsHence the civic body focused on cleaning these toilets thrice a day to control the spread of Covid19 he saidDighavkar said even though the second wave has eased the BMC was going to continue screening and testing of people through 11 fever clinics and mobile testing units in anticipation of a third wave of the infectionWe will not let our guards down even though the cases have dropped We are going to continue aggressive screening and testing until Dharavi reports zero cases Dighavkar saidThe focus will continue to be on vaccination in Dharavi where 27000 people have been inoculated against Covid19 so far he added