As the number of COVID-19 cases in Asia's largest slum pocket, Dharavi has been increasing by the day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to go all-out to curb the spread of the virus in the area. The civic authorities are now planning to screen the entire locality to trace positive cases and make sure that they are isolated immediately.
By Tuesday evening, the BMC had screened 3.6 lakh people in Dharavi, which is half the population of the slum pocket. However, the estimated population is known to be 8.5 lakh, with migrants being unaccounted for.
On Tuesday, the area had reported another 26 cases, taking the COVID-19 tally in Dharavi to 1,353 and the total deaths reported from the locality stood at 56.
With new cases coming in every day, the civic officials have said that they want to ensure maximum people are screened, in order to ensure high-risk suspects can be quarantined and tested. BMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner (G-North) Kiran Dighavkar said that screening of many people, multiple times if required, is the only way they can tackle the pandemic.
Dighavkar told The Times of India that there are multiple ways to carry out screening drives in Dharavi. "Door-to-door screening is one way. With help from private practitioners, we screened almost 47,500 residents. At fever camps, 3,224 residents were screened; 350 private clinics are operating for a month and are referring COVID-19 suspects to us," he said.
As per BMC, over one lakh senior citizens have also been screened in the area. Meanwhile, a public announcement service van is also moving around the area, asking people to contact quarantine centres like the one at the transit camp municipal school or Rajiv Gandhi sports complex in case they experience any symptoms of COVID-19.
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