Mumbai ¨C Farhana Shaikh used to recoil in disgust when she went to use the communal toilet in Dharavi. But since the pandemic struck, efforts to fight COVID-19 have dramatically improved public sanitation in one of Asia¡¯s largest slums.
Indian cities face record daily deaths, but new cases have plunged in the Mumbai slum in recent weeks as officials bolstered anti-virus measures first put in place last year ¡ª from mass testing to disinfections in public areas, including bathrooms.
¡°The toilet is being cleaned every day since the last year, as against once a week earlier. There¡¯s soap and sanitizer, and a box for disposing sanitary pads that were otherwise strewn around,¡± said Shaikh, 30.
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