Dharavi sees 62 percent jump in COVID-19 cases in March

Mumbai, Mar 20 (PTI):
Dharavi, the biggest slum in Mumbai, has reported 272 coronavirus cases so far in the month of March as against the entire February’s infection count of 168, a rise of 62 per cent, civic officials said on Saturday. The spike in cases in this slum sprawl, which is spread over 2.5 sq km of area, has set alarm bells ringing for the authorities, although they say that they are better prepared this year to tackle the situation as compared to last year when the outbreak had started. The officials said that the number of single-day cases in Dharavi, which had started steadily going up since February, has witnessed a significant jump starting this month.
Till March 19, it has reported 272 cases.
The officials said that the cases being reported now are scattered across the slum and not concentrated in any particular pocket.
Dharavi currently has 72 active COVID-19 cases. Of the total number of 4,133 patients so far, 3,745 have recovered, while 316 have died due to the infection. Around 6.5 lakh people live in Dharavi, with a population density of 2,27,136 per sq km. Maintaining social distancing there is a tough task, as families of eight to 10 members live in 10×10 hutments and residents have to walk along narrow lanes lined with crowded tenements on either side.