Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SD)

Mumbai, Sep 12: Dharavi on Friday September 11 witnessed a sudden spike in the number of COVID cases with 33 new cases after two months of reporting single-digit cases per day. The last time the slum saw such a huge number was on July 19 with 36 cases.

Mumbai city has also been witnessing a parallel proportion of 2000+ spikes in the number of cases on a daily basis.

A senior BMC official said that the spike in cases is the result of the increased number of testing and a reflection of lockdown easing coincided with the Ganapati festival. "This isn't a second wave, it is just a blip from the plateau that Mumbai had settled into for two months," the BMC official said.

Dharavi, which was the nation's worst hotspot in April in terms of both cases and deaths has a residing population of nearly eight lac. However, aggressive testing and control measures resulted in bringing down the cases to one per day towards June end. Kiran Dighavkar, G North assistant municipal commissioner said that it was too early to worry even though the slum witnessed a sudden spike and it must be seen as a result of the house to house survey. "We conducted a testing camp in Shahu Nagar on Thursday, and this is the report from that area. We need to watch the numbers for the next three to four days," Dighavkar said.