Mumbai: Five more people, including two who returned from the last month’s the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin, have tested positive for coronavirus in Dharavi, taking the tally in the slum-dominated area here to 22, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said Friday. They also informed that the virus claimed a third victim from Dharavi, Thursday night.
According to the officials, among the five two are women. One of them, aged 29, is the wife of a doctor who tested positive earlier in Vaibhav Nagar, while the other, aged 31, is a resident of the Kalyanwadi locality, the officials informed.
“Two people who figure in the list of police who returned from Markaz (Tablighi Jamaat’s event at its headquarters in Nizamuddin, Delhi) were also found positive,” said a senior BMC official. He added that one of them is a resident of Dr Baliga Nagar, while the other is from PMGP colony. “Both were already quarantined at the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex here and have been now taken to hospital,” the official said.
Meanwhile Dharavi reported the third death due to coronavirus Thursday when a 70-year-old woman passed away after testing positive.
With houses and people living in what is known as Asia’s biggest slum, the Maharashtra government is apprehensive of community transmission. The health ministry of the Maharashtra government has drafted a containment plan for slum clusters.
BMC has banned all unlicensed vegetable and fruit markets, hawkers and sellers at the containment areas in Dharavi to prevent further spread of the virus, said officials. Only medical outlets are allowed to function. Anyone caught buying from unlicensed roadside vendors will be arrested, the officials added. Disinfectants are also being spread in parts of Dharavi on a regular basis, informed officials.
Agencies