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HEALTH-VIRUS-INDIA
Virus cases, deaths rise in India’s biggest slum
NEW DELHI, April 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Coronavirus cases in Mumbai’s
densely populated Dharavi slum — one of Asia’s biggest — have risen
to 43 including four deaths, officials said Sunday, as they ramp up
testing in a race to contain its spread.
Since the first virus death in early April, Indian authorities have
stepped up measures to close off areas where cases have emerged in
Dharavi, which is home to around a million people.
But 15 new cases and one death were reported overnight, taking the
number of infections to 43 in the neighbourhood made famous by the
2008 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”, Mumbai council
spokesman Vijay Khabale-Patil said Sunday.
Testing sites have also been set up in recent days to pick up
asymptomatic carriers of the virus, Khabale-Patil said, adding that
“as a result more positive cases have emerged”.
“We have been running extensive medical camps in Dharavi and other
areas of Mumbai to test more people for coronavirus and make sure
carriers are not ignored just because they don’t display symptoms,” he
told AFP Saturday. Local officials also closed all shops, except
pharmacies, near so-called “containment zones” in Dharavi from Friday
to limit the number of people in public spaces.
India has been in a nationwide lockdown since March 25.
Some states including Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, said
Saturday that the strict measures — due to be lifted on April 15 —
would be extended until the end of the month.
“The state will show the way to the country even in these tough
times,” Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on extending
the lockdown in his state.
“On Monday, we will complete five weeks since the first case of
coronavirus was reported in the state. We can say that till now we
have been successful in preventing the multiplication of the number of
cases up to some extent.”
Maharashtra has the highest number of cases among India’s states and
territories, at 1,761 including 127 deaths. India’s overall toll on
Sunday stood at 8,356 infections including 273 deaths.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the scientific agency
leading the government’s response, on Sunday said testing was
increasing, with more than 15,500 samples taken daily since last week.
The health ministry added that India now had 105,000 dedicated
COVID-19 beds in 601 hospitals across the vast nation of 1.3 billion
people, official Lav Agarwal said.
“As numbers grow in India… (we are) being overprepared, being
extra-cautious,” Lav Agarwal told reporters.
Experts have warned that coronavirus could spread like wildfire in
slums where social distancing and self-isolation are all but
impossible.
Dharavi’s population density is thought to be 270,000 people per
square kilometre, according to the World Economic Forum.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2144hrs