Aafrin Kidwai 
A file photograph of Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest slum, which has reported seven cases of the novel Coronavirus
Over 130 employees, a majority of whom are class 4 employees, of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have succumbed to COVID-19. A total of 2,588 employees have contracted the virus, of which nearly 1,300 (50.23 per cent) have recovered, reports The Free Press Journal. The mortality rate among civic employees is 5.1 per cent.
According to the BMC officials, most employees who tested positive for COVID-19 are from the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Department and Health Department, including many staffers who worked at the ward level. “These are frontline staff who come directly in contact with COVID-19 patients, work at containment zones and have been assigned field work,” a BMC official said.
Picture Credit: Leonora Enking, Shanty dwellings, Railway tracks and Mosque in Dharavi Slum Mumbai India February 2010, CC BY-SA 2.0
