Mumbai's Dharavi records zero COVID cases for two days in succession

In a landmark healing achievement, Mumbai's Dharavi emerged out of the COVID spiral with zero positive cases on Monday. The no-positive case trend continued on Tuesday as well, marking the first null-period here since the swell of the second wave of coronavirus. As per civic records, the slum last recorded zero cases on January 22. It may be noted that Dharavi was the epicentre of the first wave of coronavirus in 2020 and was severely struck by the February surge, this year.

Dharavi controls the COVID impact, effectively

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For the first time since the advent of the second wave of coronavirus in February 2021, Asia's largest slum, Dharavi has started to record zero new case activity. The first-ever coronavirus case was lodged here on April 1, 2020, and it later scaled to be one of the worst-hit regions of the MMR, during the initial wave of the pandemic. The conditions were improved here with a tailor-made Dharavi model and active vigilance of the BMC officials.

The cycle renewed with the resurgence of COVID-19 infection with the second wave spell. However, the cases are now receding, like in the rest of the city. As of Monday, the urban slum had 6,861 cases, of which 13 cases were active. The recovery rate here stands at 94.5% with 6,489 discharges. As of the active caseload break up, 6 patients are under home isolation, 4 in hospital and 3 in quarantine centres.

Aggressive vaccination is the only resort to beat the pandemic

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The overall recovery may be attributed to an active vaccination drive here. The Assistant Municipal Commissioner stressed on the focused inoculation strategy to repress the infection spread at present, unlike the testing, tracing and treating approach of the first wave. As of June 14, around 22,000 COVID jabs have been administered here. Aggressive vaccination policy is the only way to arrest the spread, the civic official added.

Dharavi is located in the G-North municipal ward, surrounded by Dadar and Mahim. Initially, the caseload in these neighbouring localities was relatively low in comparison to the slum. However, with virus prevalency (herd immunity), active containment at Dharavi and the overall shift of infection to high-rise areas, both Dadar and Mahim now nurse a greater load. At the beginning of this week, Dadar had about 9,557 cases while Mahim reported the highest, 9,876 cases.