A successful response to the second wave of COVID-19 in the slums of Delhi.

Abstract

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to India's slum communities. Although more COVID-related deaths occurred in slum neighbourhoods, the 91 slum communities served by the non-profit Asha Society India experienced only one death case during this period. Key factors contributing to this outcome included the mobilisation of educational, quarantine, and preventive measures, as well as an emergency protocol that was used for early proactive identification and treatment of patients presenting with fever and cough before experiencing shortness of breath indicative of a developing cytokine storm and its life-threatening complications. This retrospective description is limited by the incompleteness of data collected during the chaos of the pandemic.