Mumbai’s civic body on Friday said the city will continue to remain in level-3 category of the Maharashtra government’s five-level unlock plan till further orders, PTI reported.
The coronavirus positivity rate in Mumbai has dropped to 4.40% and oxygen bed occupancy stood at 27.12%. The city can now shift to the less rigorous level-2 restrictions based on these two parameters. But, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation decided to follow level-3 curbs considering the city’s population, daily footfall in local trains and the India Meteorological Department’s warning of very heavy rainfall in the next few days.
“Right now we still have around 700-800 Covid-19 cases per day so it is not that cases have disappeared,” Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal told The Times of India. “We are taking a very cautious and graded approach to unlocking in Mumbai so that we don’t have to go back into lockdown. We will monitor the situation closely till the last week of June and take a decision on further easing of restrictions.”
Both essential and non-essential shops are allowed to remain open till 4 pm under the level-3 restrictions, while malls, theatres and multiplexes continue to be closed.
For the 12th consecutive day, Mumbai on Friday recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The total cases rose by 696 to 7,15,146 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The toll reached 15,146 with 24 fatalities.
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