Mumbai news live and updates" A policeman asks people to leave the Juhu beach amid restrictions imposed due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases. (AP)Mumbai News Live and Updates: The sharp increase in daily cases of Covid-19 and emergence of the new variant Omicron has led to rise in containment zones and sealed buildings in Mumbai. The spread of infection is higher in areas such as Bandra, Colaba, Fort, Malabar Hill, Andheri and GG Worli as the average growth rate in the last seven days has gone up.
On Saturday, Mumbai recorded 5,631 cases — highest in the last eight months. The positivity rate has shot up to 11.86 per cent out of the 47,472 tests conducted.
Officials from the BMC said more cases are being reported from high-rises than slums – around 90 per cent of the new cases are from buildings.
Mumbai recorded 6,180 new Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of nearly 13% on Saturday. The city contributed to almost 67 per cent of total 9,170 Covid cases recorded in Maharashtra which reported seven deaths and six new Omicron cases, taking the total tally of Omicron infection in the state to 460.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not call himself a 'fakir' now with the addition of a "Rs 12 crore" car in his cavalcade.
In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut also praised former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for always using an Indian-made car, and late PM Indira Gandhi for not replacing her security guards despite a threat to her life.
"On December 28, media reported pictures of a Rs 12 crore car for Prime Minister Modi. A person who calls himself a fakir, a pradhan sevak, uses a foreign made car," Raut said.
"The prime minister's security and comfort are important, but from now on, the pradhan sevak should not reiterate that he is a fakir (ascetic)," the Rajya Sabha member said. (PTI)
Taking cognisance of anonymous Twitter handles targeting Muslim women with objectionable hashtags #BulliBai and #SulliDeals, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home and Information & Technology Satej Patil has ordered the state cybercrime branch to take immediate and strict action against the perpetrators.
“Digital platforms like these are rife with misogyny and communal hatred aimed at women. This is very disturbing and shameful. Maharashtra Govt. is taking strong actions against such platforms. I have instructed @MahaCyber1 for the same @ they are on it,” Patil tweeted on Saturday.
More than 100 Muslim women are being targeted by anonymous Twitter accounts by posting their pictures with objectionable hashtags such as #BulliBai and #SulliDeals.
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The first day of online registration of children between 15 and 18 years for vaccination against Covid-19, which will kick off on Monday, was marred by technical glitches on Saturday with many in Mumbai not being able to book their vaccination slot as the Centre, due to a technical issue, failed to activate the online option on the centralised Co-WIN portal for the city.
In other districts, though the online slot booking option was active, the applicants had to apply multiple times due to slow servers. From January 1, the Centre has opened the online registration and booking of slots for vaccination of children. However, the technical error that struck the Co-WIN portal reminded many of the glitches that took place during the start of the mass immunisation programme in January 2021.
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Two city-based lawyers recently moved a PIL in Bombay High Court seeking from the Central government, the state government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) framing and swift implementation of vaccine-booster policy and arranging for booster dose “for every citizen on priority without any delay.” The plea also sought from authorities to disclose “vaccine-booster mechanisms” to the citizens at large.
“It is a need of time to have the booster dose of vaccines started at the earliest, for which there is no policy in place by Centre, state or BMC. The experts involved in this field must roll out the policy covering every section of the people who are due for booster dose and due to delay, unlike citizens internationally getting vaccine boosters, there is a high possibility there will be higher risk for not getting the booster dose,” the plea filed by city-based lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari on December 27 stated.
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The sharp increase in daily cases of Covid-19 and emergence of the new variant Omicron has led to rise in containment zones and sealed buildings in Mumbai. The spread of infection is higher in areas such as Bandra, Colaba, Fort, Malabar Hill, Andheri and Worli as the average growth rate in the last seven days has gone up.
On Saturday, Mumbai recorded 5,631 cases — highest in the last eight months. The positivity rate has shot up to 11.86 per cent out of the 47,472 tests conducted.
Officials from the BMC said more cases are being reported from high-rises than slums – around 90 per cent of the new cases are from buildings.
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Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Saturday announced the government’s decision to waive property tax on residential units measuring up to 500 sq ft in Mumbai. The decision, being termed as a “new year gift” to the people of Mumbai, was the fulfilment of a promise that the Shiv Sena had made before the Mumbai civic body election in 2017.
Virtually sounding the poll bugle for the BMC election with his announcement, Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena always fulfils the promises made to the people.
“Shiv Sena has fulfilled many of its promises made in 2017. For Mumbaikars, we had promised to waive off the property tax up to 500 sq ft. Today we are fulfilling that important promise,” said Thackeray.
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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) approached the Bombay High Court seeking cancellation of bail granted by a special court to Sameer Khan, son-in-law of state cabinet minister Nawab Malik. Nearly nine months after he was arrested in connection with a drugs case, a special court in last September had granted bail to Khan. The special court had also granted bail to co-accused Rahila Furniturewala and Karan Sejnani.
Khan was arrested on January 9, last year, by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) following the arrest of Sejnani, from whom the central agency claimed that a commercial quantity of contraband was recovered.
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