World Bank lauds efforts to control coronavirus in Dharavi

New Delhi: The World Bank on Wednesday praised the efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Mumbai's Dharavi, one of the world's largest slums, saying its success stemmed from a combination of "customised solutions", community involvement and perseverance.

Dharavi, which is located in India's commercial capital Mumbai, is spread over an area of 2.5 square kilometres and has a population of 650,000.

People live in shanties and dilapidated buildings with narrow lanes and open sewers. The first COVID-19 patient in Dharavi was detected on April 1, nearly three weeks after Mumbai recorded its maiden positive case on March 11.

The Washington-based global lender, in its biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report, said that in the space of three months, by July 2020, reported cases in the area had been cut to 20 per cent of their peak in May.