Police personnel vacate Shivaji Park ground after a players gathered in large numbers to play cricket amid restrictions imposed due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022.
Amid a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, including the Omicron variant, the government has hinted at imposing a lockdown to flatten the curve. According to Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, lockdown will be imposed in the metropolis if daily Covid cases cross 20,000-mark.
Mumbai reported 8,082 Covid-19 cases on Monday, the highest daily count since April 18, 2021, taking the caseload beyond the 8-lakh mark, while two more patients succumbed to the infection, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Mumbai also reported 40 new cases of Omicron, pushing the number of such infections to 368 in the metropolis.
"We will have to impose lockdown in Mumbai if daily COVID cases cross the 20,000-mark," Kishori Pednekar said.
Earlier on Sunday, the city logged 8,063 fresh cases and zero deaths. Mumbai has witnessed a nearly 10-fold rise in COVID-19 infections since December 27, when the one-day tally was 809.
As cases are rising steadily, the Mumbai civic body on Monday decided to shut schools of all mediums for classes 1 to 9 and 11 till January 31. Students of classes 10 and 12 are excluded from this decision which means they can attend schools in person. Classes for students of 1 to 9 and 11 will continue in online mode.
It has also revised the protocol regarding sealing of buildings where coronavirus cases are found. As per the modified protocol, an entire building or a wing of a building complex or a housing society will be sealed if COVID-19 cases are found in more than 20% of the occupied flats in that building or the wing of the building complex or society. As per the old protocol, a floor of a building used to be sealed if five cases were detected. The entire building used to be sealed if more than five cases are found.
The civic body has now made isolation mandatory for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms or testing in the case of asymptomatic patients. The patient and his contacts shall strictly follow the current guidelines of home isolation and hygiene etiquette while in home quarantine. High-risk contacts of COVID-19 patients will be home quarantined for seven days.
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