There has been a burgeoning rise in the number of new active Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, especially the capital city Mumbai.
In order to keep a check on the increasing number of cases, the Maharashtra government announced to ban all forms of gatherings in the state, including religious, political and social, in addition to putting up a new lockdown in some areas of the state, starting from February 21, 2020.
On Feb 21, CMO Maharashtra proposed a question to the citizens of the state, asking if they wanted the government to put up a lockdown, via a tweet.
Thackeray said that the state’s decision would follow depending upon the citizens’ answers in the upcoming 8 days.
However, when asked about the possibility of imposing a lockdown in Mumbai, the municipal commissioner of the city Iqbal Chahal denied.
The senior civic officials of the city informed on Tuesday that there isn’t any immediate requirement for imposing a lockdown in the city, despite an increasing trend.
Active Cases in Mumbai Increases Due to this Reason
Maharashtra’s Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) stated that the daily headcount in the state increased from about 2,000 cases per day in January to almost 7,000 cases/day in February.
On Monday, Mumbai added 1,000 fresh infection cases to its list, surging the total count of cases to 3,34,572 in the city.
The civic officials of Mumbai have stated that the rise in the number of active cases is due to increased count in daily testing.
They informed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is currently conducting over 20,000 tests in a day.
Over 23,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted only on Monday.
“No Immediate Need of Imposing a Lockdown in Mumbai”
According to a civic official, the Covid-19 positivity rate in the city is looming at 6%, which is quite less compared to other cities in the state.
To this, the municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal added that there is no need of an immediate imposition of lockdown in the city.
Mumbai’s Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh however, adds that if the count of cases continues to grow, a partial lockdown or a night curfew could be imposed.
Meanwhile, the civic official adds, “Presently, slums have just 2 to 3% cases and the number of cases reported from residential buildings are also not high. A lockdown won’t be effective in such a situation.”
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