Impose complete lockdown in Mumbai, says BMC Mayor amid Covid-19 crisis – Hindustan Times

Mumbai, severely battered by the coronavirus disease, should be brought under complete lockdown, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Saturday as she blamed people for not following Covid-19 restrictions and adding to the city’s woes.

The city, in grip of the coronavirus pandemic, is already under a partial lockdown after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray imposed a 15-day curfew on Tuesday.

“Ninety-five per cent of Mumbaikars are adhering to Covid-19 restrictions. The remaining 5% of people who are not following restrictions are causing problems to others. I think a complete lockdown should be imposed looking at the current Covid-19 situation,” Pednekar said, according to news agency ANI.

The city on Friday reported 8803 Covid-19 cases and 53 deaths, taking its coronavirus disease tally to 562,207, and the toll to 12,250. There are now 84,378 active cases in the city. The cumulative case fatality rate (CFR) in the city is now 1.39%.

In the past 16 days of April, Mumbai has reported 147,434 Covid-19 cases and 560 deaths. Areas of Bandra West, Goregaon, Colaba, Malabar Hill and Grant Road, Matunga and Andheri have reported the highest growth rate in the past week.

However, the highest number of active cases is in Andheri West (7167), followed by Andheri East (6067), Kandivli (5735), Borivli (5664) and Malad (5605). This is as per data available for 87,443 active Covid-19 cases as of Thursday.

Facing the grim outbreak, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said people must get their Covid-19 test reports quickly, while officials must also ensure optimum medical oxygen supply as well as effective bed and medicine management amid the surge in case.

Thackeray chaired a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation in Mumbai, which was also attended by BMC commissioner IS Chahal. Chahal said there were 20,400 beds in 153 Covid hospitals in Mumbai and would be increased to 22,000 by next week.

“The daily count of cases per day is between 8000 to 10,000. The number of patients discharged on a daily basis is also around 10,000. There are 3,900 available beds at present,” the civic chief said. He said 200,000 vials of Remdesivir were being purchased, while 25,000 were available.