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Mumbai civic body cracks down on marriage halls, hotels; stringent norms likely
Continuing its upward Covid-19 graph on Sunday, Mumbai reported 921 new infections – its sharpest single-day spike since November 29 when 940 cases were recorded
Amid a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city in a week, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has swung into action and raided several establishments over the weekend. With cases almost doubling in a week, the civic body is expected to impose more curbs in the city after a review meeting on Monday.
Continuing its upward Covid-19 graph on Sunday, Mumbai reported 921 new infections – its sharpest single-day spike since November 29 when 940 cases were recorded. As on Sunday, Mumbai’s caseload stands at 319,128, while the toll has reached 11,446. The recovery rate is 94.30% with 300,959 recoveries and fatality rate is 3.58%. There are 5,859 active cases in the city.
Since the past one week, the city has been reporting high single-day cases since November 2020, when the city was recording over 1,000 cases daily. The numbers had fallen in December, with the average daily cases hovering between 600 and 700, according to the state’s dashboard.
Taking the spike very seriously, BMC got its act together by starting the strict implementation of the lockdown norms.
BMC took action against at least four establishments in Bandra and Khar and seven establishments, including marriage halls, in Dadar and Mahim for violating Covid-19 norms. A first information report (FIR) has been filed against a Bandra cafe for overcrowding and violating Covid-19 norms. The cafe owner was also asked to pay a fine of ₹50,000. BMC also filed a police complaint against four people for escaping the seven-day mandatory hotel quarantine after returning from Dubai.
In a statement, BMC said it collected over Rs32-lakh fines from citizens for not wearing a mask at hotels, night clubs, bars and marriage halls.
Mayor Kishori Pednekar warned that Covid-19 rules would be further tightened if citizens continue violating the norms. “I’m not saying we will again impose a lockdown. But stricter norms during the unlocking will be imposed if citizens are found violating Covid-19 norms. We will be cautious when it comes to unlocking of schools and colleges, and their reopening might be on hold for a few more days. We’ll take a final call on the Covid-19 situation in Mumbai on Monday during a review meeting with chief minister Uddhav Thackerayji,” said Pednekar on Sunday.
It is likely that a decision over putting a hold on reopening of schools and colleges in the wake of an increase in Covid-19 cases will be taken on Monday.
“The final decision on further restrictions will be taken after the review meeting on Monday,” a senior BMC official said.
Pednekar appealed to the clean-up marshals to treat the citizens of Mumbai with courtesy and to carry out their responsibilities properly. She made the statement after a video of clean-up marshals misbehaving with citizens while levying fines for not wearing a mask went viral.
