Mayor Kishori Pednekar Changes Her Stand On Covid Surge Says, No Need For Lockdown

MUMBAI: Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar on Saturday said that lockdown will not be imposed in the city and urged Mumbaikars to remain cautious and not panic amid the recent rise in Covid-19 cases.

Pednekar earlier said that the city authorities will have to consider lockdown if daily Covid-19 cases cross 20,000. For the past two days, Mumbai has been reporting around 20,000 cases. On Friday, 20,971 new infections were reported in the city. However, on Saturday Pednekar said the number of hospitalisation is low and hence lockdown was not being imposed in the current situation.

“Even though 20,000-plus cases are being reported in the city regularly, more than 17,000 patients are asymptomatic. Out of the total available beds in Mumbai more than 80% are still unoccupied and the demand for the oxygen beds is also very marginal,” she said.

“We can see the transmission rate this time is higher and the positivity rate is also four times than what we have seen last year, but I urge Mumbaikars to not panic. The situation is well under control and there’s nothing to worry as the symptoms of the latest variant are mild and our medical infrastructure is well equipped to handle the cases. Instead, citizens must follow all the Covid appropriate behaviour and must not step out without their mask,” she said.

Amidst the steady rise of Covid-19 cases, Pednekar visited the Covid-19 jumbo center at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on Saturday morning.

The mayor was clad in PPE kit and went inside the facility to interact with the admitted patients. She was accompanied by the centre’s dean Dr Rajesh Dhere .

Pednekar said that out of the 2,500 beds at the BKC centre, around 900 beds are occupied out of which around 670 patients are asymptomatic and not a single ICU bed is occupied at present.