Mumbai: Mayor dismisses need for weekend lockdown amid surge in COVID-19 cases

Amid the massive surge in COVID-19 cases in the city, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Saturday informed that the administration will not be imposing weekend lockdown in the city. The city Mayor informed that the decision has been taken to not place a lockdown as of now. Pednekar said that the city was well equipped to handle the hike in fresh coronavirus cases.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said in a statement that a total of 2500 beds are currently available at the BKC Jumbo COVID-19 Centre. She also informed that there have been no ICU patients admitted at the centre so far. She also reiterated that there remains no need for a weekend lockdown in the city.

“2500 beds are available at the BKC Jumbo COVID19 Centre. So far, there are no ICU patients at the centre. Most patients are asymptomatic. Weekend lockdown will not be imposed for now,” said Pednekar.

No to Mumbai COVID lockdown

Further supporting the decision, Dr Rajesh Dere, dean of BKC Jumbo COVID-19 vaccination centre added that no deaths have so far been reported at the centre since December 1. “From December 1 till now, we have 936 patients onboard with 100 daily admissions. Most patients do not need oxygen support. Till now, we have not had any mortality at the centre,” said Dr Dere to ANI.

The decision regarding the weekend lockdown comes after the Maharashtra government on Saturday announced the night curfew between 11 pm to 5 am. As per the new COVID-19 guidelines, the movement of people in groups of five or more has been restricted from 5 am to 11 pm and all movement, except for essential services has been disallowed from 11 pm to 5 am.

COVID-19 in Maharashtra

Maharashtra on Saturday, January 8, reported 41,434 new COVID-19 cases, 9,671 recoveries and 13 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state currently has 1,73,238 active cases while the death tally has reached 1,41,627. 133 patients with the Omicron variant were reported on Saturday, taking the total case tally of the Variant of Concern in the state to 1009. Mumbai logged 20,318 fresh COVID cases and five deaths on Saturday. There are 1,73,238 active cases in the state.

(With ANI inputs)

Image: PTI