PremiumAmid surge in coronavirus cases in Mumbai, the city's civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday tightened virus-related norms for housing societies and quarantine rules in order to curb the spread.
According to a fresh order by BMC, 90% of the new cases in Mumbai in the past two months resulting from housing societies only. The civic body stated that strict action to be taken against violators.
In the new order, BMC stated that building with more than 5 patients will be sealed for any movement and buildings having less than 5 patients will be sealed only on the floors which have positive COVID-19 patients.
The civic body also stated that as of 9 March, 2021, 2,762 floors were sealed with 4,183 positive patients
Moreover, in a statement, BMC said that police cases will be filed against those who skip home quarantine.
“Those who flout home quarantine norms will be compulsorily shifted to institutional quarantine," the statement read.
In the meantime, in order to ramp up Covid-19 vaccination in the financial capital of India, the civic body stated that private centres for COVID-19 vaccination in BMC limits are allowed to operate 24×7.
"Centre has approved BMC's proposal in this regard. BMC has requested Center to do necessary changes to its vaccination registration website to facilitate this," it said in a statement.
After Centre's approval for 24×7 vaccination at private centers, BMC aims for around 1 lakh vaccination every day. "With current timing of 8-12 hour shifts for vaccination around 35,000-40,000 people are getting vaccinated every day," it added.
Maharashtra, including Mumbai, has been seeing a spurt in the number of daily coronavirus cases for a while now and authorities across the state have been imposing night curfews and localised lockdowns to curb the spread. Districts such as Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad are under stringent night curfews and weekend lockdowns to curb the spread.
Meanwhile, Mumbai city on Tuesday reported 1,012 new cases taking its tally to 3,35,595, while two deaths took the fatality count to 11,510.
Despite the rise in COVID-19 cases, the situation in Mumbai is under control and there is no immediate need to impose a lockdown in the city, senior civic officials said on Tuesday.
When asked about the possibility of imposing a lockdown, municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal said there was no immediate need to do so.
However, Mumbai Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh said if COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the city, the possibility of a night curfew or partial lockdown cannot be ruled out.
Shaikh said local authorities have been empowered to take a decision on lockdown as and when necessary.
Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 9,927 new COVID-19 cases, 12,182 discharges and 56 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the daily health bulletin.
With today's addition, the state's Covid infections rises to 22,38,398, while death toll stands at 52,556. Total recoveries are at 20,89,294 and 95,322 are active cases as of today, the bulletin added.
