BMC conducts antigen tests on hawkers and shopkeepers

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated conducting tests for the coronavirus on hawkers and shopkeepers.

This comes after the civic body had earlier permitted the shops to reopen amidst the coronavirus outbreak last month. Earlier, shops were permitted to operate in a way where shops on one side of the road remained open on odd days, and those on the other side remained open on even days.

Moreover, the average growth rate of the city is 0.90 per cent, however, in at least nine civic wards it has been recorded above 1 per cent. So far, Mumbai has clocked 1.50 lakh cases of the coronavirus, including 7,761 deaths. There are 21,442 active cases in the city.

Therefore, with most markets resuming operations, the tests for COVID-19 are crucial to ensure that the transmission of the coronavirus through hawkers and shopkeepers to their customers could be contained.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, in the last 24 hours, clocked 20,489 cases of the coronavirus, which happens to be the highest ever single-day spike. This took the COVID-19 tally in the state to 8,83,862. Moreover, this happens to be the fourth consecutive day that the state has clocked a record number of coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, Mumbai, on Saturday, reported 1,737 cases taking the COVID-19 tally to 1,53,712 cases.