Coronavirus outbreak: Slums in Aarey close themselves to outsiders

The roads have been shut with barricades

Following a number of COVID-19 positive cases in Mumbai's Dharavi slums, two cases have now been found in the slum area in Aarey Milk Colony. Given the large population of close to a lakh residing here, the slum-dwellers on Tuesday decided to seal themselves in by closing down the approach road.

Earlier, tribal hamlets inside Aarey Milk Colony had closed entry for outsiders to their padas a couple of weeks ago. Now, the slums inside Aarey Colony are adopting similar measures to keep themselves safe from the novel Coronavirus. The move came after two positive cases of COVID-19 were found inside the colony in a week.

Close to 80,000 to one lakh people reside in the slums inside Aarey colony.

Close to 1 lakh people reside in the slums inside Aarey Milk Colony

According to local resident Uday Sangle, a female resident of Aadarsh Nagar slum was detected positive on Tuesday after which the area has been sealed and BMC health department has started checking other residents. "As a precautionary measure, the slum pockets have closed the area and the approach road to their slum pockets for outsiders," he said.

On April 18, the first case was found in the slum pocket at unit 22. According to locals, some 20 people from unit 22 have been shifted to a private hotel at Royal Palms where they have been kept in quarantine.

Sources from Aarey told mid-day that a few days ago, a woman had visited the area from Worli to stay at her mother's place in Aarey. Worli being a hotspot of COVID-19 cases, the locals in Aarey had asked the family of the woman to make sure that they test her.

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