Crowd at Marine Drive in Mumbai (Express photo/Ganesh Shirsekar) IN VIEW of the expected increase in travellers around Christmas, year-end festivities and upcoming marriage season the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has formed two squads in each of the 24 administrative wards in the city to monitor the crowd and ensure that coronavirus disease-related protocols are not violated.
The BMC said it will watch out for any rise in Covid-19 cases and any possibility of a new variant next month.
According to the current rules, indoor marriage halls can operate at 50 per cent capacity or with a maximum of 100 people while outdoor marriage halls are allowed to accommodate up to 50 per cent of their capacity or a maximum of 200 people. While restaurants, pubs, eateries in the city can stay open till midnight.
In December 2020, the civic body had formed squads to check for Covid rules violations. It said there has been no visible rise in cases after Diwali so far. However, the civic body is still approaching the situation with caution. A senior civic official said, “The number of cases has gone down steadily, in last month. However, the period till December end is crucial considering inflow of travellers in the city around Christmas.”
In addition, the BMC is anticipating an increase in the number of international travellers visiting the country ahead of Christmas.
It has directed ward officials to increase Covid testing across the city and keep a close check on any new variant of the virus.
According to the current rule, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for the passengers arriving at the Mumbai airport from or transiting through the United Kingdom (UK), Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
International passengers do not have to submit to a 14-day institutional quarantine. Instead, they have to submit their self-declaration form and undertaking to officers deployed at the Mumbai Airport and shall be mandatorily subjected to 14-day home quarantine.
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