Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: The number of coronavirus patients and deaths in Asia's largest slum Dharavi is rising by the day.

The fight here is being keenly followed. Spread across 613 hectares, the slum in the heart of India's 'Maximum City' houses more than 15 lakh people, with as many as five to eight people sharing a 100 sq ft room.

Social distancing is nearly unthinkable. “Lakhs of people are literarily crammed here. There is no proper ventilation, light and other basic facilities like water... We lack basic things,” social activist Rajendra Korade had told The New Indian Express recently.

The Mumbai slum saw a total of 60 positive patients being detected till Wednesday morning. Seven patients have died.

Dr Baliga Nagar of Dharavi saw five positive cases and two deaths.

Apart from this, two cases were reported in the Vaibhav housing society, 14 in Mukund Nagar, two in Madina Nagar and one in Dhanwada Chawl.

There were a further seven cases and one death in Muslim Nagar, six cases and one death in Social Nagar, seven cases in Janata Society, four cases and two deaths in Kaylanwadi, and one case each in PMGP Colony and Murugan Chawl.

There were also two cases in Rajiv Gandhi Chawl, four cases Shashtri Nagar, one case in Indira Chawl and one in Gulmohar Chawl. Nehru Chawl registered one death.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified nine contaminated locations in Dharavi and all of them are sealed.

Rahul Shewale, Shiv Sena MP from Dharavi said they have decided to check each and every area.

"We want to do this rather than wait for people to come to BMC hospitals. The BMC is going to their doorsteps and checking them. We are taking a proactive approach while dealing with this pandemic. In the next 10 days, we will complete these door-to-door health checks," he added.

Vijay Khabale, the BMC PRO, said that they have started an area clinic in every contaminated zone.

"A large number of people are voluntarily coming here and BMC is also going to each house and checking all residents of Dharavi. Therefore, we are seeing a spike in the numbers of coronavirus patients in Dharavi and other parts of Mumbai," said Khabale.

Talking of Mumbai, a total of 1351 coronavirus positive cases have been detected and 112 deaths reported till Wednesday. Those who tested positive include 100 health workers.

Worli, Prabhadevi, Byculla, Peddar road, Bandra, Andheri East and West, and Kurla are among the regions seeing more number of coronavirus positive cases.

The Maharashtra government has formed an expert doctors committee that is monitoring the hotspots.

"These health experts from various private and government hospitals are holding regular reviews and planning the strategy," a BMC official said.

PRO Khabale said that apart from health checks, they have started disinfecting all suspected areas.

"The police has been deployed in the sealed areas, so no one can go out and come inside. We have also told residents to make the list of essentials and are only allowing a few people from every building to go shopping. As per the Maharashtra government's demarcation of coronavirus-infected areas, Mumbai comes in the red zone. However, BMC has been working on a war footing to contain the spread of the coronavirus. We are expecting to see a dip in the numbers in the coming days. The curve will soon start flattening particularly in Mumbai," Khabale added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is himself closely monitoring the Mumbai situation.