Migrant labourers wait in a queue at the Madina Masjid in Dharavi for the afternoon meal that is distributed in the area. Pic/Suresh Karkera

COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Mumbai, with 15 more people testing positive in Dharavi on Sunday. BMC officials said the virus has spread to other pockets of the slum unaffected earlier. The total cases from Dharavi has reached 43, with four deaths. The BMC has sealed a new spot, Shastri Nagar slum, and is tracing high-risk contacts of people from here.

With rapid increase in cases, Dharavi is feared to be emerging as the next hotspot in the city, after Worli Koliwada. The civic administration has sealed Shastri Nagar slum where cases have emerged for the first time. The data also showed that 10 of the 15 new patients in Dharavi are in the age group of 18 to 30.



Dharavi police get sprayed with disinfectant before entering Dharavi police station on Sunday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The civic officials, however, said their efforts to contain the spread of the virus are in the right direction as nine of the 15 people were high-risk contacts of those quarantined at Rajiv Gandhi Sports Club. Only four of them are from Shastri Nagar slum and their high-risk contacts are being traced and identified, the civic officials added.

Since Saturday, the civic administration has screened 7,135 people and have referred only 82 for testing, of which 42 swabs have been collected and the results are awaited, said the officials. The screening was done at Mukund Nagar, Muslim Nagar, Kalyanwadi, Social Nagar, and Madina Nagar slums, and will resume on Monday.

The number of cases in Dadar increased to 13 on Sunday, with a 52-year-old woman from Ambedkar Nagar and a 48-year-old man from Kasarwadi SWM staff chawl testing positive for the virus.

According to the data released by the BMC on Sunday evening, the overall new cases in the city stood at 217, taking the total tally to 1,399. The death toll in the city rose to 91 with the civic officials recording 16 new deaths on Sunday.

In Maharashtra, the number of confirmed cases has jumped to 1,982 and the death has gone up to 149, said the state health department officials.

7,135

No. of people screened in Dharavi since Saturday

149

Total no. of people who have died in state till date

82

No. of people currently being tested at Dharavi

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