Mumbai could become the first city in the country to come out of lockdown after successfully managing to reduce the seven-day Moving Growth Rate (MGR) of positive cases, active cases and mortality. Furthermore, the positive cases rate has fallen below 2 per cent, which enables it to further relax the restrictions imposed on daily life.

The Maharashtra Government began implementing harsh restrictions for containing the second wave of Covid pandemic from April 4. Other than medicines and grocery outlets, all shops and most private establishments are shut in the city. On April 4, Mumbai had 66,806 active cases, which has dropped to 33,574 on Sunday.

But experts still believe that the lockdown should be extended for a few weeks into June as a precaution against further spread of infection.

Former President of Indian Medical Association (Maharashtra), Avinash Bhondwe, told BusinessLine that the Covid curve is flattening but is not reducing drastically. He said that the State will have to go in for another two to four weeks of lockdown while speeding up the vaccination drive.

Public health researcher and Professor at Jaipur based Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) University, Daya Krishan Mangal said that cases have been falling in Mumbai and Maharashtra but the State must not become complacent. In the next three months, testing and disease surveillance along with extensive vaccination should be ramped up on a massive scale, he said.

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