Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope has recommended the imposition of a night curfew from 11pm to 5am in view of soaring cases of Covid-19 in the state and is waiting for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s approval on it.
Last week, the government had stated that marriages or any other public programmes held in open or closed spaces should not have more than 50 people, while funerals cannot have the presence of over 20 individuals. The state has also imposed Section 144 at tourist spots and places that attract large crowds. These restrictions came into effect from midnight of December 31 and to be continued till further orders.
“In a city like Mumbai which is always awake, some curbs are needed to prevent unnecessary roaming around at night. Non-essential activities should be stopped. There may be no immediate decision on malls and restaurants. But night activities will need to be looked at,” Tope told The Times of India.
Tope added that the police should impose fines if there is crowding. “They have been instructed to take action in case of crowding. There are curbs but they need to be implemented. Crowding at places of worship and political, social and religious events must be avoided,” he said.
On lockdown, Tope said, “Only if demand for oxygen crosses 700 metric tonnes and over 40% beds are occupied, in auto mode we will head for a lockdown. But the usage of hospital beds is within 15% of capacity and oxygen demand is low.”
Meanwhile, Mumbai island city guardian minister Aslam Shaikh said that the state government is considering shutting all tourist destinations in the financial capital of India. The destinations especially include Gateway of India, Hanging Gardens, museums, the aquarium, and boat rides to Elephanta island.
“These places attract tourists by busloads, and many of them are school and college students. We do not want infection rates to go up,” Sheikh told TOI.
In an alarming revelation, BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal on Friday said that 96% of the 1,900-odd patients currently on oxygen beds in Mumbai “have not taken even a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine”.
“Ninety-six per cent of the patients who are admitted on oxygen beds in 186 hospitals of Mumbai are unvaccinated. Otherwise, we have seen so far that vaccinated people are not reaching ICUs. We have 21 lakh vaccine stocks available with us. The current hurdle in ensuring the entire adult population is vaccinated is the 84-day gap required between the two doses. Today, too, our vaccination percentage is the best in India,” Chahal disclosed in a TV interview to Times.
So far, the BMC has administered both the vaccine doses to more than one crore people in Mumbai while close to 90 lakh have received one jab.
Chahal reiterated that more restrictions will only be imposed only if hospitals and oxygen-supply is overburdened.
“Even though Mumbai has one lakh active cases as on date, only 10 tonne of oxygen is being used. During the second wave, oxygen manufacturing by the BMC was zero but this time we have 400 tonne of oxygen storage and 200 tonne of our own manufacturing, of which only 10 tonne is being used. Only if there is pressure (on healthcare), restrictions will be considered. But today 84% of hospital beds are vacant and of the 20,000 cases reported in Mumbai yesterday (January 6), only 102 persons were put on oxygen beds as a matter of precaution. Deaths are in control with 19 deaths in the past 16 days,” he said.
Maharashtra’s single-day Covid-19 caseload shot above the 40,000-mark on Friday though no new case of the Omicron variant was reported for the day, taking the states overall Covid tally past the 68 lakh-mark, health officials said.
For the 11th consecutive day, the state reported a massive spike in Covid-19 infections and suspect cases whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing.
The state’s Covid-19 count shot up from 36,265 on Thursday to 40,925 on Friday, while fatalities increased from 13 a day earlier to 20 now with a mortality rate of at 2.07 per cent.
After recording 79 Omicron infections on Thursday, the state logged no fresh cases of the variant on Friday, as its tally stood at 876, with Mumbai leading the list.
The health authorities are continuing with intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports — Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur — since December 1.
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