The 37-year-old resident of Kalina’s Jambhlipada in Mumbai slum tested positive who worked as a waiter in Italy. When he returned to his home, he was properly screened at the airport, but had no symptoms.
After a few days he fell ill and went for a checkup to a local doctor. The local doctor sent him to Kasturba hospital where he tested negative.He was tested again at Kasturba when his condition didn't improve and on Tuesday was declared positive for the virus.
“He was going about his life after he returned from Italy and we believe he was in close physical proximity of hundreds of people during this period,” said former Congress corporator Brian Miranda, a resident of Kalina.
The people who have been in close contact with the man has been kept under observation.
“It is impossible to trace all those who may have been in his close proximity. How do you do that in a place like Jambhlipada? Here you end up in close proximity of at least 20 people when you go the toilet in the morning,” an official, who did not wish to be identified, said. It is not possible to home quarantine people here. Residents step out to fill water, use toilet, buy food, smoke a cigarette, even to get some fresh air. “If the virus spreads in the slums, we are in for a tough fight,” the official said.