‘Dharavi mannequin’ helps tame second Covid-19 wave in Mumbai’s slum town
After reporting as much as 99 COVID-19 circumstances every day in April, Mumbai’s slum colony of Dharavi has seen a gradual drop in single-day infections – beneath 5 – in the final couple of days with the tally of sufferers beneath remedy dropping to 50, marking a turnaround in the second wave.
The ‘Dharavi mannequin’ of COVID-19 administration and the vaccination drive have helped in efficiently containing the second wave in the realm, officers mentioned.
A gentle drop in coronavirus circumstances in Dharavi, a sprawling and congested shanty town which was as soon as a COVID-19 hotspot, has introduced big aid to the civic authorities in Mumbai.
BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) officers mentioned the slum cluster, unfold throughout 2.5 sq. km and positioned on the border of the island metropolis, reported three and 4 circumstances on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, whereas Mumbai remains to be witnessing every day coronavirus circumstances in 4 digits.
They mentioned Dharavi’s lively circumstances have come down to only 50 (6,398 of the whole 6,802 COVID-19 sufferers have recovered, whereas 354 have died).
This was in sharp distinction to the adjoining Dadar and Mahim areas, which have 204 and 254 lively circumstances, respectively.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in April 2020, the slum-dominated space has reported 354 deaths (until May 26). Of these, 42 fatalities have been recorded since February 7, 2021, the officers mentioned.
According to them, the every day COVID-19 circumstances in Dharavi began going up from mid-February, when Mumbai was hit by a second wave of the coronavirus an infection.
Cases in the slum-dominated space rose considerably in March and peaked in April, when it reported the best single-day spike of 99 circumstances on April 8.
The sharp rise in every day infections pushed the civic authorities to as soon as once more fall again on the “Dharavi model” which concerned 4Ts – tracing, monitoring, testing and treating – a technique which was praised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) throughout the first wave of COVID-19.
“Despite a slow spread of the virus in December 2020 and early January 2021, we continued with comprehensive testing and tracking of cases in Dharavi,” mentioned Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of G-North ward that homes Dharavi.
With the onset of the COVID-19 second wave in February 2021, the Dharavi Model was activated once more to stem the unfold of the an infection, he mentioned.
“Door-to-door screening of people with symptoms, aggressive testing, regular screening and testing of Dharavi residents who work in different parts of Mumbai, including deliverypersonnel, industrial workers, helped to control the spread of the pandemic,” Dighavkar mentioned.
Dharavi has a inhabitants of 6.5 lakh, which suggests 2,27,136 folks dwelling per sq km. Social distancing was subsequent to inconceivable in Dharavi, the place households of eight to 10 folks stay in 10×10 hutments.
Apart from congested slum pockets, Dharavi is dwelling to a number of small-scale leather-based, pottery and textile manufacturing items.
The space has 5,000 GST-registered enterprises, 15,000 single-room factories and is a hub of worldwide exports with an annual turnover of 1 billion USD, in accordance with BMC information.
In Dharavi, the primary COVID-19 affected person was discovered on April 1, 2020, about 20 days after Mumbai reported its first COVID-19 case.
Thereafter, the every day COVID-19 circumstances rose sharply and the realm was declared a ‘COVID-19 hotspot’.
With a proactive screening of residents with the help of personal medical doctors and neighborhood help, the native physique managed to flatten the COVID-19 curve final yr.
According to a BMC official, the most important problem was to keep up hygiene as 80 per cent the inhabitants relies on 450 neighborhood bogs.
Hence, the civic physique targeted on cleansing these bogs thrice a day to regulate the unfold of COVID-19, he mentioned.
Dighavkar mentioned regardless that the second wave has eased, the BMC was going to proceed screening and testing of individuals via 11 fever clinics and cellular testing items in anticipation of a 3rd wave of the an infection.
“We will not let our guards down even though the cases have dropped. We are going to continue aggressive screening and testing until Dharavi reports zero cases,” Dighavkar mentioned.
The focus will proceed to be on vaccination in Dharavi the place 27,000 folks have been inoculated towards COVID-19 to date, he added.
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