Rahul Gandhi congratulates Dharavi residents, officials for flattening COVID-19 curve

A day after the World Health Organisation lauded Mumbai's Dharavi for breaking the chain of COVID-19 transmission, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday congratulated all those responsible for the achievement.

At a virtual press conference on Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Dharavi, among other places in the world, is an example that shows that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought under control.

"A strong focus on community engagement and the basics of testing, tracing, isolating and treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission and suppressing the virus," he said.

In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi said, "The WHO has praised our country's Dharavi model for preventing the spread of coronavirus infection. The entire team responsible for this achievement of Dharavi, especially the residents, deserve applause." Spread over an area of 2.5 square kilometres, Dharavi is one of the world's largest slums. It has a population of 6,50,000.

In April, the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in Dharavi was 18 days, it gradually improved to 43 days in May and slowed down to 108 and 430 days in June and July, respectively, according to official data.

As many as 2,359 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Dharavi so far, while 1,952 patients have recovered. At present, there are only 166 active cases in Dharavi. 

(image from Twitter)