Amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, Mayor Kishori Pednekar has hinted that additional restrictions could be imposed in the city from 2 April.
Pednekar said on Thursday that all religious places might be shut completely as people refuse to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, reported news agency PTI. She listed the same reason for the possible closure of malls and theatres.
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She said that private offices could be asked to operate in two shifts.
Speaking about curbs on local trains, the Mayor said: “Train journey might be restricted to only essential services staff only as in the past.”
Meanwhile, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh recently said that no order has been issued to stop Mumbai local train. However, the government is closely monitoring the situation.
The statement comes as the city reported the highest-ever single-day spike of 8,646 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the cumulative caseload to 4,23,360.
The doubling rate in Mumbai has worsened to 49 days.
With 18 more people succumbing to the disease, the toll in the financial capital of the country has mounted to 11,704.
There are 55,005 active cases in Mumbai and the total number of people who have recovered stands at 3,55,691.
The number of active containment zones in the city has reached 80 while 650 buildings have been sealed by the BMC.
Pednekar has said that preparations for tackling the Covid surge is in full- swing, adding that the number of beds has been increased from 16,000 to 25,000.
Resumption of train services
After a gap of about 320 days, the Railways had permitted all members of the general public to travel in local trains in Mumbai from 1 February.
The general public is allowed to travel in the suburban trains from the time of start of services for the day till 7 am, from 12 noon to 4 pm, and from 9 pm till the closure of services for the day.
From 7 am to 12 noon and from 4 pm to 9 pm, only employees of the essential services and categories of commuters specified by the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Railways are permitted to travel in local trains.
The suburban train services, considered as the lifeline of Mumbai, were suspended on the midnight of 22 March last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak and gradually resumed from 15 June.
Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/mumbai-local-train-services-to-be-halted-again-here-s-what-city-mayor-says-11617325479603.html
