Covid cases spike, Mumbai may not see further unlock yet

BMC additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “We are not taking any decision on [relaxing the timings for general public in local trains] it yet. We will monitor the situation until February 22 first”

With Covid-19 cases on the rise in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has yet not decided on any further relaxations in the city.

A Covid-19 vaccine shot being administered to a beneficiary at Rajawadi Hospital in Mumbai on February 12. (Satish Bate/HT photo)

Several factors, including restarting local train services for all, increased mingling among groups and non-compliance of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, are some of the reasons for increase in daily cases in the past five days. According to BMC, a decision for further relaxation and unlocking will be taken on February 22 after monitoring the situation.

On whether timing for the general public for travelling in local trains will be increased, BMC additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “We are not taking any decision on the same yet. We will monitor the situation until February 22 first.”

The city has been reporting over 500 cases since February 10, and on Sunday, the city reported 645 Covid-19 cases and four deaths on Sunday. Overall, the city has reported 314,076 Covid-19 cases and 11,419 deaths. Its recovery rate is 94% and mortality rate is 3.63%.

The increase in cases has come ten days after local train service was restarted for the general public on February 1. Now, general public can travel from the first train of the day up to 7 am, 12 -4 pm and later, from 9 pm till the last train. In the past two weeks, at least 15 million citizens have used the local train services.

Last week, the BMC also wrote to Mumbai University on how it will monitor the situation till February 22 before allowing colleges to reopen in the city. This, as the Maharashtra government had allowed reopening of colleges from February 15.

Kakani added, “Daily cases being reported has increased, and one of the reasons can be local trains, but there are other factors too. One is unlocking, now almost everything has been opened up. Social mingling has increased, and citizens have also stopped practising Covid-19 appropriate behaviour...Also, we are testing almost 17,000 samples a day which has also resulted in cases going up.”

City physician Dr Siddarth Paliwal said, “We might notice a spike in the number of cases owing to gradual reopening and unlocking, but this does not mean we go on shutting the city again. We will have to restrict movement and maybe, night curfew can be a solution. The government should also focus on vaccination. With vaccination, cases will come under control in the coming months.”