Amid Covid Surge, Mumbai Mayor Distributes Masks At Popular Vegetable Market

Amid a worrying resurgence of coronavirus cases in several states, including Maharashtra, the mayor of Mumbai was seen distributing face masks to people at a famous market in the city this morning. Mayor Kishori Pednekar visited the Dadar vegetable market along with civic body officials and distributed masks to people. In a tweet in Marathi, she said she also raised awareness about masks among those who were seen without masks.

"Mumbai Police has joined hands with us. People are more scared of the police than marshals. Request all to wear masks, sanitise and maintain social distancing," she told reporters.

On Sunday, Ms Pednekar warned that Mumbai may have to face another lockdown if the surge in daily coronavirus numbers is not stemmed and if people do not follow Covid rules. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too had issued a similar warning for the state.

"If you are lax (in following anti-coronavirus measures) and numbers continue to increase, then lockdown will have to be imposed. If you want to avoid this, follow the rules strictly," she had said. She had distributed masks to people in another part of the city on Sunday.

Ms Pednekar had tested positive for coronavirus in September.

Maharashtra - which continues to have the highest number of Covid cases in India - reported 5,210 fresh cases on Monday, after logging over 6,000 cases for three straight days in a row. The Mumbai region, which has seen a bulk of Covid deaths in the state, did not report even a single death during the day, the state's health department said. Mumbai city continued to report the highest single-day cases in the state with a spike of 761 on Monday.

The centre on Monday warned five states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh - that continued "adherence to Covid-appropriate behavior" is critical to break the chain of transmission and contain the novel coronavirus.