Mask up Mumbai: 2nd COVID-19 wave officially here, BMC fears massive surge in cases in slums

A health worker collects swab samples during door-to-door screening at Dharavi on February 23. Pic/Shadab Khan

The city, which recorded nearly 3,000 cases on Thursday, could well be into the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many areas in the western and the eastern suburbs are registering more cases than they did last October, during the first peak. Dharavi, which became a success story after shedding its hot spot tag last year, has started seeing a massive spike in cases. The BMC fears the cases in slums are going to shoot up in the coming days, and is reopening quarantine and isolation facilities for a likely surge.

With the COVID-19 cases rising sharply in Dharavi, the BMC fears other slum areas would see a surge too, and suspects hospital beds may start filling up again, and the city would have to rely on isolation and quarantine facilities. While the cases started rising in February, the sudden spike over the past few days became a cause of concern for the civic body.

With the daily tally in Dharavi rising to 30 on Thursday from 21 two days back, the BMC has rushed to reactivate as many quarantine and isolation facilities as possible.

The BMC fears now the Coronavirus is spreading fast in the city's slums as well. Initially, when the city witnessed a surge, new infections were mostly reported from high-rises and areas outside of slums. Studies earlier had stated that a high number of slum-dwellers had developed antibodies, but the BMC doesn't want to take any chances. It has also intensified rigorous testing, fever clinics and door-to-door screenings.

A civic official said, "We already have a huge infrastructure in place that was kept on standby to accommodate the inflow of cases. But as few cases were being reported earlier, we hadn't activated it. Even hotels and other structures that were used earlier will again be taken over for quarantine purposes."

Meanwhile, the total number of Containment Zones comprising only slums have increased to 34 from 27 last week, with the BMC sealing seven more slum areas.

More than 2,700 slums and chawls were in Containment Zones over the past year and were released as the cases dropped. However, the numbers could shoot up again within a few days, and thus, preparation is underway to tackle the new wave, said sources.

30
No. of new cases Dharavi reported on Thursday