Coronavirus: Dharavi in Mumbai has reported no COVID-19 cases for the first time since outbreak
Not a single COVID-19 case has been reported in Mumbai's Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, for the first time since the pandemic reached India earlier this year.
Healthcare workers and researchers have been paying undivided attention to the situation in Dharavi as the hundreds of shanties stand wall-to-wall, and where people mostly use community toilets since social distancing is a luxury in one of the most densely populated slums in the world.
COVID-19 in Dharavi would have otherwise spread fast, but due to good intervention, isolation and testing of patients, the authorities have managed to keep Dharavi away from a possible rise in infection, health workers say.
On July 26, only two COVID-19 cases were reported in Dharavi. However, months later the number rose again, until today when not a single fresh case was reported.
When cases fell to just two in a day, Dharavi's success at flattening the curve or moving from being a coronavirus cluster to a successful containment model, had drawn praise from all over the world. Even the World Health Organisation had praised Dharavi in its fight against coronavirus.
Enforcing a strict lockdown and blocking movement of residents except for essential services seemed to have paid off as Dharavi had been consistently reporting relatively low single-day COVID-19 numbers till not a single case was reported.
Maharashtra reported 3,580 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, taking the total to over 19.51 lakh. The virus has killed over 49,000 in the state.