Mumbai's Dharavi reports zero Coronavirus cases - a first since its 1st case in April

In a major achievement for Asia's biggest slum - Dharavi - it reported zero Coronavirus cases for the first time since the virus spread in Mumbai's most crowded area on April 1. This comes a day after the area reported three new cases taking its tally to 3788. Dharavi has 16 active cases and 3460 fatalities as of Thursday.

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Dharavi reports zero cases

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WHO lauds Dharavi's efforts

In July, World Health Organisation praised the efforts taken to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in Dharavi, one of the world's largest slums, underscoring the need for community engagement along with national unity and global solidarity to turn the pandemic around. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said here were many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control. "And some of these examples are Italy, Spain and South Korea, and even in Dharavi - a densely packed area in the megacity of Mumbai," Ghebreyesus said.

Dharavi, which is located in India's commercial capital Mumbai, is spread over an area of 2.5 square kilometres and has a population of 650,000 - with a majority of the people living in shanties and dilapidated buildings with narrow lanes and open sewers. When the virus first hit the slums, the BMC undertook a mass screening operation, after the slum reported four deaths. The BMC roped in a team of 150 doctors, setting up several containment zones and medical camps throughout the place, putting thousands of people under restrictions, while conducting several rounds of screening. With the decrease in cases, most of the massive containment facilities have been shut in the area.

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Mumbai's cases shifted from slums to high-rises

In July, BMC's first sero surveillance test found that 57% of residents in slums showed seroprevalence - i.e had been exposed or infected by the Coronavirus. After studying 6936 samples from three wards (R-North, M-West, and F-North), the  BMC has estimated that the infection fatality rate is likely to be as low as 0.05-0.10%, as compared to the case fatality rate of 5-6%. BMC interpreted that high prevalence in slums could possibly be due to population density and shared common facilities.

WHO chief praises efforts to control COVID-19 in Mumbai's Dharavi slum

This situation changed in October, when the second serosurvey found that the presence of COVID-19 antibodies in samples from slums in the city was found to have decreased by 12 per cent to 45 per cent, compared to 57 per cent in the first serosurvey in the city. The seroprevalence in buildings was around 18 per cent against 16 per cent in the first survey, it added. The survey was carried out in wards R-north (Borivali), M-West (Mankhurd and Govandi) and F-North (Worli and Lower Parel) in the second half of August. Mumbai currently has 2,89,204 cases with 11,045 fatalities.