Maharashtra: Tracking, trouncing the coronavirus in Mumbai's Dharavi

During the second fortnight of March, when Covid-19 cases were rising in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra, the central and state governments were concerned about Dharavi, one of the biggest slum clusters in the world. The population here is estimated between 7 and 10 lakh spread in 2.1.sq km.

On April 1, the nightmare came true – when the first Covid-19 case was recorded in Dr Baliga Nagar of the area. The person eventually died.

Read: Massive testing, isolation helped contain Chennai's Covid-19 outbreak

Soon, Dharavi, which also comprises Dadar and Mahim, emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot of Mumbai. In Dharavi, the worst-hit areas are Social Nagar, Matunga Labour Camp, Dharavi Cross Road, 90 Feet Road and Kumbharwada.

However, the efforts of local administration in containing the virus has even earned praise of the World Health Organisation. The total number of cases here presently stands at 2,400 and deaths at 82 – while the active cases are below 500. When Covid-19 was at its peak, on May 4, Dharavi saw the highest single day spike of 95 cases.

From April 1 to mid-May, Covid-19 patients from Dharavi were shifted to the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital at Sion and the King Edward Memorial Hospital at Parel.

Chase the virus

One of the early steps was to open several fever clinics. “As a matter of fact, each and every positive case was reviewed and contact tracing was done. We involved the people in our fight against the virus,” said Rajesh Tope, the state’s Public Health and Family Welfare Minister.

There was also the ‘Chase the Virus’ initiative, where for every positive patient, 15 close contacts were quarantined. The frontline caregivers were given hydrocychloroquine sulphate as preventive medicine.

Also Read: Covid-19 outbreak in Agra: First hit, first on its feet

"We adopted the Chase-the-Virus strategy in which the survey teams made rounds instead of patients coming to clinics," assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Digavkar, who heads Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's G/North ward under which Dharavi comes, told DH. He also said that the mantra was ‘4 Ts’ - tracing, tracking, testing and treating. WHO also lauded Dharavi's '4 Ts' strategy.

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According to BMC officials, one of the major challenges was that 90% of Dharavi depends on common toilets and sanitation facilities.

“We used water jets of the Mumbai fire brigade to spray water and clean the toilets in regular intervals rather than municipal employees going in and cleaning.
Hand drones were used to check movement and crowding of people. Food packets were delivered at doorsteps,” said an official.

Also Read: Poor implementation, monitoring weaken Covid-19 strategies

"We should also acknowledge that the return of migrant workers who lived here helped in containing the virus. The CRPF was deployed along with local police to ensure physical distancing and other norms," said Dr Suhas Pingle, Chairman, Action Committee, Indian Medical Association-Maharashtra.

Estimates suggest that nearly four lakh people had left Dharavi during the pandemic.

“Today Dharavi is an example before the world on how to combat and control the spread of Covid-19,” says Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The Dharavi model of fighting Covid-19 is being replicated in Mumbai's suburbs of Malad, Kandivli, Borivli and Dahisar on the Western line and Mulund and Bhandup on the Central line.