Authorities in Mumbai are now facing a growing concern as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths are seeing a spike over the past few days. This comes as the state announced “Mission Begin Again” to ease restrictions in non-containment zones earlier this week.
Last week, officials allowed walking, running, jogging, etc at public places like beaches and promenades as long as social distancing is maintained and masks are worn at all times.
As of Monday, private offices in Mumbai were allowed to operate with up to 10% of the workforce or a maximum of 10 people (whichever is higher) while the rest were advised to work from home.
Additionally, BEST buses started plying around the city. Accompanied by private vehicles on Mumbai’s streets, this led to traffic congestion in several key areas of the metropolitan region. Mumbai recorded a total of 58 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the city to 1,638. The total number of active coronavirus cases in Mumbai currently stands at 51,110 with the city adding 1,015 new cases on Tuesday.
Also read - BMC Allows Markets To Be Serviceable For Full Working Hours
Sources within the ministry remain worried that the reopening may lead to a spike in fresh cases. This trend was also observed in previous virus hotspots like China and South Korea. But he maintained hope that the curve could be flattened by the end of June if things remained under control.
However, reports out of three BMC wards comprising of Borivali, Dahisar, Kandivali, and Malad and are not inspiring a lot of confidence right now. Despite Mumbai seeing the average growth rate of the virus fall to 2.93%, these areas remain a cause for concern. The aforementioned areas come under R (South), R (North), and P (North).
A BMC official familiar with the matter said - “The recovering rate of the three wards including PN, RN and RS is also between 25 to 33 per cent which indicates that the cases have increased in the past few days.”
Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the R South-ward (Kandivali), Sanjay Kurhade said that cases are being reported from new slum pockets in the region which have contributed to the increase in the tally. As far as the current strategy is concerned, he added that there’s no separate strategy for this new rise in cases as the authorities are using the universal protocol for identifying, quarantining, and testing suspected patients.
Share
Tweet
