Slums hit in first wave

More than 50% (6,534,460) of Mumbai’s total population of 12,442,373 (as per 2011 census) resides in slum areas, making the inhabitants vulnerable to contracting the infection owing to their poor and unhygienic living conditions. Public health experts said slum pockets, from where a significant proportion are employed as domestic help, drivers, guards, gardeners in high-rise buildings, are like ticking bombs that can cause the virus to spread like a wildfire among the general population.

Dharavi inhabitants, for instance, live in some of the most cramped spaces in the country. In an area measuring 2.1 square kilometres (sq km), the slum has over 57,000 shanties, huts and small flats, almost all being illegal. Its estimated population density – 66,000 people per sq km – is more than double of Mumbai (32,303 people per sq km), the fifth most-densely populated city in the world, according to a United Nations Population Prospects study released in July 2019.

Till February 7, the area had reported 3,947 Covid-19 cases and 312 deaths. However, in the second wave, a total 2,917 cases and 47 deaths have been reported since February 1 till June 18. Of the total 6,864 infections, around 42% were reported during the second wave. At present, there are only five active Covid-19 cases. On June 15, Dharavi reported zero Covid-19 cases – a first since February 2.

Civic ward officials said the infection rate this year was less than that in 2020 despite conducting similar number of daily Covid-19 tests during both the waves.

“In May 2020, when the pandemic curve was at its peak, we tested 200-250 people every day. We undertook the same number of tests in the second wave too. By mid-march, we started observing that the infection rate was rising in high-rises than the slums. We then gradually started focusing on residential buildings,” said Kiran Dighavkar, ward officer, G-south ward that covers Dharavi, Mahim and Dadar.

The trend is similar in other civic wards where the slum population is in a majority. For instance, L ward that covers Kurla constitutes over 80% slums. Manish Walunj, assistant municipal commissioner of the ward, said around 3,500 tests were conducted every day between March and May this year and last year, but the infection rate was lower than the first wave. “In mid-may last year, slum pockets in our ward had the highest number of containment zones (131) covering 10,699 households. But by Aprilend this year, we had only 15 active containment zones in slums. As on June 15, our ward has only 458 active patients, and over 90% are from non-slums,” said Walunj.

The M-east ward, which includes slum clusters of Govandi and Mankhurd, has also witnessed a significant drop in cases compared to last year.

“In May last year, the growth rate was 8.4%. In April this year, it was 4%. At the start of the second wave, we also increased our contact tracing to 17 individuals per infected patient,” said Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant municipal commissioner, M-east ward.

Civic-run hospitals have also witnessed a significant fall in hospitalisation cases from slums in the second wave. Dr Mohan Joshi, dean of Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital (Sion hospital), said, “There has been a 40-50% drop in hospitalisation of slum dwellers in the second wave. There was a spike in admissions in April but the death rate was minimal, below 1%.”

Fewer Covid-19 cases in the city’s densely populated slum