COVID-19 case recorded in Mumbai’s Dharavi
A 56 year old man from Dharavi in Mumbai recently passed away due to COVID-19, sparking fears of the disease’s spread in Asia’s largest slum.
About the Incident
A 56 year old man in Dharavi recently died due to COVID-19. This first positive case in the slum area was traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat event held in Delhi. In mid-March, 10 members who had attended the event had visited the victim’s house. Apart from the victim, 15 people have tested positive for the virus in the region.
Dharavi Slum
The Dharavi Slum is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was founded in 1884. It is the largest slum in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It has an area of about 2.1 sq km but a population of 700,000 people- i.e. one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Previous Cases of Epidemics in Dharavi
The Dharavi locality has suffered due to disease outbreaks in the past due to its poor hygiene and dense population. Nearly half its population died in 1896 because of a plague outbreak. The following 25 years were ridden by a series of plague outbreaks. Other epidemics that occurred in the locality includes dysentery, typhoid, leprosy, amoebiasis, polio and cholera.
