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Mumbai Won’t Go Into Lockdown Even if Cases Rise, Chahal Says

Mumbai has no plans to shut down even as it reported 20,181 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

Mumbai Won’t Go Into Lockdown Even if Cases Rise, Chahal Says
Customers and pedestrians at Crawford Market during Dhanteras in Mumbai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Mumbai, India’s financial capital, has no plans to shut down even as it reported 20,181 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the city’s municipal commissioner said.

Mumbai has already banned large gatherings and also put restrictions on the number of people that can attend events. No lockdown and no further restrictions are planned even if cases were to rise, Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said in an interview with Bloomberg News. 

Mumbai Won’t Go Into Lockdown Even if Cases Rise, Chahal Says

Although fresh cases of the Omicron variant have soared, “only 5%” of patients required medical help and most recovered faster, Chahal said. In addition, the death rate was low -- about one a day in the last two weeks, although the daily infections now are much higher than the about 11,000 witnessed during the Delta wave.

“Yesterday, we got more than 15,000 cases. Of this only 80 patients went on oxygen beds and only around 35” needed intensive care, Chahal said. “There is no case for a lockdown.” 

Most patients who needed medical help were were not vaccinated, he said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.