No New COVID-19 Cases Reported in Dharavi for the First Time

Early intervention, screening and isolation measures was credited for the turnaround by the BMC.

For the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak, no positive cases were reported in Mumbai’s Dharavi on Friday, 25 December, ANI reported.

The news comes as a glimmer of hope for the city and the state of Maharashtra, as it witnessed the highest number of cases in the peak period of the pandemic in India from July to September.

Speaking to ANI, State Surveillance Officer, Dr Pradeep Awate, said, “The model of tracing, testing and treatment was found to be useful due to community participation.” He also added that the role played by private doctors in Dharavi, with the guidance of bureaucracy and public health department, was vital.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has often garnered praises for its handling of the pandemic in the city, especially in Dharavi which wa expected by many to become the biggest cluster of coronavirus earlier this year.

When the daily cases in July in Dharavi had dropped, even the World Health Organisation (WHO) had praised the control measures implemented in Asias’s largest slum.

The central government had also praised the BMC for their proactive measures that had resulted in a reduction in the growth rate to 1.02 from 12 percent, between April and June.

Early intervention, screening and isolation measures was credited for the turnaround by senior BMC officials.

(With inputs from ANI.)