2,510 New Covid Cases In Mumbai, 20 Deaths In Maharashtra

The Mumbai civic body is planning to increase hospital infrastructure and arrange for medication and oxygen. There will also be a big focus on vaccination, for both adults and children.

Major public places in the city will remain shut on December 31. Strict action will be taken against establishments that violate guidelines during the New Year festivities, Mr Thackeray said. The authorities will employ flying squads and CCTV footage to detect rule-breakers and those flouting the norms will be sealed for the next few months.

"As the cases are rising rapidly, we urge everyone not to panic. However, we all must exercise extreme caution and ensure that we are vaccinated and masked up," said Mr Thackeray, who is also the guardian minister of Mumbai's suburban district.

In a series of tweets, Mr Thackeray outlined the key areas of the plan, which he said includes "the proposed vaccination for ages 15-18 that we want to carry out in early January".   

"Over the next 48 hours, will be connecting with all educational institutions in the city to plan an organised vaccination drive for all those from 15 to 18 years of age," he said in another tweet.

The authorities are also preparing a list of health workers, frontline staff and senior citizens who are eligible to take the third dose of Covid vaccine, which should be administered nine months after the second shot, the minister said.

The jumbo Covid care centres have been asked to be on "stand-by, at all readiness levels, along with basic facilities to medical infrastructure," he tweeted. Testing and tracing protocols have been reviewed too.

Aaditya Thackeray said 54,000 beds are available in the city at present in hospitals and Covid centres.

Discussions were also held on Covid-appropriate behaviour guidelines and public place event issues, "especially with the New Year being around the corner," he said in another tweet.

Mumbai logged 1,377 Covid cases over a 24-hour period yesterday, up from 809 cases on Tuesday.  The spike rate has been very high in the city, with cases registering a 188 per cent high in three weeks starting December 8.