Vikrant Shekhawat : Sep 07, 2021, 07:12 PM
Mumbai: The third wave of Covid-19 is already here, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Tuesday as she cautioned people against celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi outside their homes amid the rising cases of Covid-19 and positivity rate over the past few days in the city as well as Maharashtra. "The third-wave [of Covid-19] is not coming, it is already here. It has already been declared in Nagpur,” Kishori Pednekar told reporters. Pednekar also urged people in Mumbai to remain at home during Ganesh Chaturthi, which will begin on September 10, as she stressed that they should wear masks and take other precautions to stop the spread of Covid-19.Kishori Pednekar was referring to Nagpur guardian minister Nitin Raut remarks that the city is already been hit by the third wave of Covid-19. "Today, after a long time, we have come down to twice as many positive cases. We have a third wave," Nitin Raut was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.Raut also said more restrictions could be imposed in the district in the next three to four days as the daily infection count has been rising in double digits. There were 12 cases of Covid-19 in the city on Monday, which have taken its tally to 493,072.He said the enhanced restrictions could include restaurants being allowed to remain open till 8pm instead of 10pm, shops and other establishments till 4pm and a complete shutdown on weekends, with only essential services being allowed to operate. "After a meeting with traders and other organisations in two to three days, enhanced restrictions will be announced," the minister said, according to PTI.Maharashtra registered 3,626 new Covid-19 cases and 37 deaths on Monday and Mumbai recorded 383 fresh infections and five deaths. The relatively lower numbers of fresh infections were a result of fewer tests conducted in the last 24 hours over the weekend. The state on Sunday logged 4,057 new cases as 193,193 samples were tested. The number of active patients in Maharashtra stands at 47,695—with the most in Pune with 12,413 patients, followed by 7,275 in Thane and 6,328 in Satara.