To contain the spread of coronavirus ahead of the festive season, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday said that it has launched a mass drive against those not wearing face masks. The BMC said that the mass drive will continue for at least a month and it will penalise nearly 20,000 such citizens every day.
In a statement, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said: "A large number of citizens under MCGM do not wear face MASKS and this can lead to situation getting difficult in future, thereby delaying further opening up of Mumbai."
BMC chief said that he will himself monitor the situation every day. "MCGM is initiating a mass drive of penalising approx. 20,000 citizens per day found without wearing masks in public life and MCGM has resolved to continue this drive on a daily basis for next one month, at least, to be monitored personally by me, every evening," Chahal said. The city civic body has set a penalty of Rs 200 for not wearing mask in public places.
Meanwhile, Mumbai on Monday reported 1,620 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 2,31,070. While the toll rose to 9,466 with 36 fresh deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
The civic body said the number of recoveries increased to 1,95,773 with 1,968 more COVID-19 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours. At present, Mumbai's recovery rate of COVID-19 patients is 84 per cent, it said, adding the city has 22,693 active cases.
The civic body has done 12.71 lakh COVID-19 tests so far. According to the BMC, Mumbai has an average case doubling rate of 67 days, while the average growth rate is 1 per cent. A BMC official said the city has 9,872 sealed buildings and 652 containment zones in slums and chawls (old style tenements).
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