Mariam Rashid is terrified of stepping out of home. The 56-year-old heads the Dharavi branch of the Society for Human and Environment Development (SHED), a non-profit working for community welfare. She is concerned that she may be mobbed by harried slum dwellers desperate for supplies. On March 31, Rashid received 1,000 food grain packets from the Art of Living Foundation. But, in an area that is spread over 613 hectares and houses more than 15 lakh people, most of whom depend on daily wages, the stock was a drop in the ocean. "On the first day, things spiralled out of control because of the number of people who turned up. How do you decide who deserves it?" Rashid says. She roped in local resident volunteers to identify needy families. Rashid is a women's rights activist, but has had to put her core job on hold since the national lockdown was announced by the prime minister to contain the spread of the Coronavirus outbreak. She says, "The overriding concern for most people is not the virus, but rationing and earning for two square meals."

On April 1, a 56-year-old COVID-19 patient from Dharavi, died at the Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital in Sion. The deceased, a garment workshop owner, was a resident of a Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) building, which was then sealed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). This was followed by two more cases; a 54-year-old sweeper from the locality and a 35-year-old doctor who ran a clinic on the main road in Dharavi. As per health department officials, the former patient was attached to the solid waste department of the BMC. Presently, Mumbai is the worst COVID-19-affected city in India, with 330 positive cases and at least 22 deaths. Dr Mohan Joshi, dean of Sion Hospital, who was in charge of the Coronavirus isolation centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Marol, was quarantined after he developed symptoms. Acting dean Dr Pramod Ingale, says, they are only treating suspected cases at the moment. "As per the protocol, we treat the patient, send the swab for testing and if it turns out to be positive, they are sent to an isolation facility. If there's a death, we notify the medical officer health (MOH) and the police and further action of quarantine and sanitation is taken up," he says. The fever ward currently has 15 patients with symptoms. They are awaiting the results. Ingale says there hasn't been an overwhelming flurry of cases yet. "There are a couple of hospitals identified by the BMC as primary isolation facilities. If they get full, then medical colleges like ours will have to start housing COVID-19 patients. I hope it doesn't come to that."