India's largest slum records first coronavirus case

  • Video report by ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine

India's largest slum has recorded its first confirmed coronavirus case.

A 56-year-old man in Mumbai's Dharavi slum - home to around one million people - is being treated at a hospital.

The slum is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, but India's health officials said there was no evidence of spread to other parts of the community.

The building where the man lived has been completely sealed off, according to India Today.

Dharavi provided the setting for the Danny Boyle's award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

For a country with a population of 1.3 billion, India has a comparably low number of positive coronavirus tests compared to the rest of the world, with just over 1,600 cases.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi ordered the largest ever lockdown of a democratic country in history last week as he tried to slow the spread of Covid-19.

His 21-day lockdown has left many migrant workers unable to travel home, which has forced people to walk for days on end to get back to their communities.

Workers left big cities which had been shuttered due to the coronavirus to return to their villages.

The government told India's top court on Tuesday that 500,000 to 600,000 migrants have walked to their villages from cities. Credit: AP

The government told India's top court on Tuesday that 500,000 to 600,000 migrants have walked to their villages from cities.

Some people died under the physical strain of the relentless walking, while others were killed in road accidents. Some were beaten at state borders by police, who said they were just trying to manage the crowds of people.

Shiv Kumari, 50, said she was thrown out of her rented accommodation in the northern state of Haryana by her landlord. She and her 28-year-old son packed their bags and set off on an arduous journey of 550 miles to their home.

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