6 New COVID-19 Cases In Mumbai's Dharavi, 2 Nurses Test Positive In Dadar

Six new coronavirus cases have been reported from Mumbai's Dharavi, Asia's largest slum which is home to about seven to eight lakh residents. With this, the total number of cases in the area has risen to 28.

According to authorities, five of the six new cases are suspected contacts of people who tested positive earlier and later isolated. The authorities say isolation and quarantine are working in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in crowded areas.

Three new cases have been reported from Dadar as well, just four kilometres away, which includes two nurses from the Sushrusha Hospital.

On Friday, Maharashtra reported 210 new cases with 132 of them from Mumbai. As per the latest statistics, the number of COVID-19 positive cases reached 1,008 in Mumbai with 64 deaths.

The Mumbai police and the city's civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have ramped up the efforts to ensure crowd control and people are being asked to stay indoors. The police also carried out flag marches across the city to drive home the message 'public health emergency'. The police also warned people about stepping outside their homes unless they have a very valid reason.

But while cities are coping up with the situation, rural Maharashtra could also find itself in crisis with the agricultural produce markets shutting down due to crowding in these areas. The administration has said that they will re-open the markets and implement the measures to control crowds in the area.

Speaking to NDTV, Maharashtra's Water Resources Minister and Guardian Minister for Sangli, Jayant Patil said, "We have not stopped the farming activity. A farmer can travel alone to his farm but not in groups in a tractor or a vehicle. We have allowed farming activity to go on. We are facing a serious situation with the markets."

According to the Mumbai and Pune Agricultural Produce Market Committee, the state government has decided to stop market committee operations because of the crowds. The committee further said that it will be difficult to help people with the current situation and get the rural economy back on the track.

Even as the number of cases is rising in the slum pockets, the state government had earlier denied the need to seal the area, which has a million people living in 5 square kilometres and five to six people share a single room.