No lockdown needed for now in Mumbai: Municipal Commissioner

Mumbai: There is no immediate need for imposing lockdown or additional restrictions in Mumbai as the bed occupancy rate, oxygen requirement and number of Covid-19 deaths are low, municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal said on Friday.

During the first and second wave the decision to impose lockdown was taken on the basis of case positivity rate, but this criterion cannot be applied for the third wave which started from December 21, 2021, Chahal told a Marathi news channel.

No further restrictions were needed to be imposed on travel by local trains as only fully vaccinated people are being allowed to board the trains, he



said.

“The criterion in the first and second wave was the positivity rate. But in this wave of Omicron variant of the virus, two new criteria should be occupancy of hospital beds and oxygen requirement,” Chahal said.

The administration has so far imposed only a few restrictions such as ban on assembly of five or more persons during night time and shutting of schools in the city, he said.

Of over 20,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Mumbai on Thursday, only 1,180 were hospitalised and 110 were on oxygen support, the BMC chief said.