After a decision taken at a special Cabinet meeting in early May, the SRPF (State Reserve Police Force) will likely make its way to Mumbai in order to provide some assistance to the local police. While the police denied any reports of the army coming in to help, the department acknowledged that the government may increase the platoons after assessing the situation.
The SRPF will reportedly send five platoons over the next two days with each platoon consisting of 100 personnel. Coronavirus in Mumbai has been particularly devastating on the police force with 425 policemen testing positive for the virus, and another 1,000 currently under quarantine. Additionally, 8,000 policemen who are above the age of 55 have apparently been sent on leave.
Also Read - Mumbai Police Put Up In Hotels As Cases Of COVID-19 Rises
The police force in Mumbai is working overtime to ensure lockdown norms are practiced. This comes as clusters of cases are being reported daily, and the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) is currently ramping up bed capacity to 200 per day in civic and privately run hospitals. On the other hand, a new report mentioned that hospitals in Mumbai are running out of beds for severely ill COVID-19 patients.
A week ago, CM Uddhav Thackeray mentioned that the state is seeking additional beds from the army, navy, and other government agencies amidst the growing number of infections in the city.
Maharashtra’s coronavirus cases now stand at 24,406 while around 14,924 of those are from Mumbai alone. Areas like Wadala and the surrounding slum pockets are emerging as hotspots, raising fear among local authorities that this may be a repeat of Dharavi where over 1,000 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported. The authorities are said to be using a new approach to combat the virus in Dharavi.
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