Dharavi slum colony in Mumbai logs 10 COVID-19 cases

Mumbai, Jun 1 (PTI) Dharavi slum colony in Mumbai reported 10 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

With the addition of new infections, the tally of active cases in Dharavi has jumped to 37.

Barring a few days, the slum-dominated area had reported zero COVID-19 cases in the first half of May. However, the daily infections went up steadily after May 15.

Dharavi's overall tally of COVID-19 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic stands at 8,707, the official said, adding that 8,252 patients have recovered so far and 419 died.

The G-North ward that houses Dharavi has a total of 93 active cases as of now, including 26 from Dadar and 30 from Mahim.

Since the beginning of May, the COVID-19 cases in Mumbai have been steadily going up. The number of new cases reported on Tuesday crossed the 500-mark for the first time after February 6.

Earlier in the day, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal directed civic officials to ramp up coronavirus testing immediately on a war-footing and keep the staff of jumbo field hospitals on alert in the wake of a "tremendous" rise in fresh COVID-19 cases in the city over the past few weeks.