Mumbai’s civic body won’t lift lockdown restrictions from red zones

Out of the 24 administrative wards in the city, eight are likely to have red zones, where restrictions will not be lifted from April 20 onwards. Red zones will mark

Out of the 24 administrative wards in the city, eight are likely to have red zones, where restrictions will not be lifted from April 20 onwards. Red zones will mark out areas containing a high number of Covid-19 cases. Restrictions will be lifted in orange zones, where fewer than 12 cases are reported daily. There are no green zones — areas that have not reported even one Covid-positive case — in Mumbai.

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According to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the eight wards with red zones are likely to include G/South ward (Worli, Prabhadevi; 390 cases), E ward (Byculla, Mazgaon; 162 cases), D ward (Malabar Hill; 135 cases); G/North Ward (Dharavi, Dadar; 123 cases); K/West Ward (Andheri, Oshiwara, Jogeshwari; 106 cases), H/East ward (Bandra east; 105 cases), and M/East ward (Deonar, Chembur; 103 cases). Red zones have over 12 cases of Covid-19 reported daily.

Ramesh Pawar, deputy municipal commissioner, health department, said, “We are in the process of colour coding and this will be done as per the guidelines of the Central government. In red zones, we will mark particular areas where relaxations cannot be implemented. However, the entire ward will not be marked as red zone.”

Prashant Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner of D ward, also said that specific areas with a large number of cases would be isolated, rather than an entire ward. “We can mark a cluster of buildings, or mark a particular areas as red zone where the cases are high,” he said. While G/south, E and D wards have reported the most cases, 13 other wards have seen an increase of more than 100% in the number of Covid-positive cases reported between April 7 and April 14.

The Central and the state governments had announced that some restrictions may be relaxed from April 20 to encourage economic activity. However, the implementation of the directives will depend on the discretion of local bodies. “We can have additional restrictions if we feel it is a requirement for a particular area. If we feel that buffer zones also have to be excluded from these relaxations, we can do that, but without diluting the directions of the state and Central government,” said a BMC official.

Pawar said the BMC and Mumbai Police would coordinate to ensure the implementation of restrictions in red zones.