Indian police have partially cordoned off one of Asia’s largest slums after the death of two coronaviruses. In the huge poor district of Dharavi in the metropolis of Mumbai there are now eight “security areas”, as a government spokesman announced today.
The residents were placed in quarantine at home. Nobody is allowed to leave or enter the restricted areas. The infected people’s houses and the surrounding area were disinfected.
Only 2,300 infections detected so far
India, which has a population of 1.3 billion, has so far reported only 2,300 coronavirus infections. 59 people died of the lung disease. However, experts doubt the numbers and suspect a high number of unreported cases because only a few people are tested.
However, two deaths and another infection in Dharavi have alarmed the Mumbai authorities. A million people live and work in huts, apartments and small factories in the slum, which became world famous through the film “Slumdog Millionaire” from 2008. Experts fear that the corona virus could spread rapidly in the narrow streets of the slum.
„The people of Dharavi abide by the rules and stay at home with their children,“ said agency spokesman Vijay Khabale-Patil.
Mobinuddin Shaikh, on the other hand, reported that only a few people in Dharavi had adhered to the country-wide curfew last week. Now many residents are panicked. However, they can hardly protect themselves: „We are a family of five,“ said the 51-year-old Shaikh. “We use shared toilets and public water points. Only God can save us. „
