‘Rise in cases in suburbs may be due to easing of lockdown’

The increase in Covid-19 cases in north Mumbai could be due to relaxation in lockdown, said Parambir Singh, commissioner of police (CP), Mumbai. He, however, added

The increase in Covid-19 cases in north Mumbai could be due to relaxation in lockdown, said Parambir Singh, commissioner of police (CP), Mumbai. He, however, added that civic officials and the police department took multiple effective measures in accordance with the situation, and now they are yielding positive results.

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Singh on Friday visited many hotspots in the northern suburbs, including Santosh Nagar in Goregaon (East) and Appa Pada in Kandivli (East), which have seen a spike in new cases recently.

Speaking to journalists, Singh said a trend of increasing cases in buildings in slum and non-slum areas has been observed and said, “We are sealing those buildings and making them containment areas.” “It is sometimes difficult to control cases in high-density population areas, but by following social distancing norms it can be effectively dealt with. We enforce lockdown in areas where these norms are not being followed,” the top cop said.

Currently there are around 750 containment zones in the city, of which 250 to 300 are in the north region. Around a fortnight ago when there was sudden increase in cases, lockdown was re-enforced 27 hotspots in northern suburbs.

“Now, the number of cases is going down. If cases keep on dropping, we would allow partial relaxation in lockdown,’ Singh said.

While answering a question on the possible reasons that led to the sudden increase in cases, Singh said, “Health officials would be the right people to comment on it. But we believe that when the lockdown was relaxed many people may have not followed social distancing norms, because of which cases have increased. But now everything is in control.”

Singh has also asked senior police officers to prepare a list of essential service staffers who commute out of the area for work. “Sometimes these people become potential carriers. Hence they would be identified and after their list is prepared, the CP would speak to the municipal commissioner requesting to arrange accommodation for these staffers near their work places,” said Dilip Sawant, additional commissioner (north region).

2,634 cops positive, 1,979 recovered

So far 2,634 policemen from the city police force tested positive for Covid-19, of whom 1,979 have recovered completely. OF the recovered personnel, 1,110 have also joined duty.

In the Maharashtra Police, which includes Mumbai, more than 4,200 policemen were infected, of whom 3,000 have recovered.

500 FIRs by Cyber police

Amid the spread of Covid-19, some anti-social rumours spread through social media are creating an atmosphere of fear among the citizens. As these rumours are leading to social rifts in many places, the cyber police have started cracking down on the people spreading the rumours and they have registered more than 500 cases and arrested 262 people so far. Beed, Pune Rural and Jalgaon districts have seen the maximum cases related to circulation of fake news, objectionable content, etc.

Two held for stealing autorickshaws

Oshiwara police on Thursday arrested two thieves who stole parked autorickshaws during lockdown and later used those to ferry passengers to earn a living. The arrested accused Raju Kanaujia, 27, is a a resident of Behram Baug, Jogeshwari and Rambabu Varma, 34, is a resident of Madh Island, Malad.

(With inputs from Suraj Ojha and Vijay Kumar Yadav)