Uddhav Thackeray today said that lockdown was an option to stem virus growth (File)
Mumbai has reported its biggest hike in coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day. The Maharashtra capital that had logged 2,877 cases yesterday, recorded 3,062 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, which is the city's highest single-day increment in its total cases ever.
With this, Mumbai's total of active cases has reached 20,140, whereas its overall coronavirus total is 3,55,897. The city's recovery rate settled at 91 percent; 1,334 people were discharged today.
10 people died in the last 24 hours because of the illness, taking the total count of deaths in the city to 11,565.
The daily figure in Maharashtra is slightly lower than yesterday. The state had logged 25,833 fresh cases on Thursday - highest since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Today, it reported 25,681, which is over 60 per cent of the countrywide total of daily coronavirus cases.
The Maharashtra government today ordered that all theatres, auditoriums and offices in the state would operate at 50 per cent capacity.
"All private offices except related to health and other essential services to function at 50% capacity..." the order said.
It, however, allowed government and semi-government offices to take a call on staff attendance.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today said that lockdown was an option to stem the growth of the virus in the state.
"I see lockdown as an option going ahead. But I trust people of the state to cooperate (and follow the COVID-19 norms voluntarily) like the last time," he said.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a virtual meeting of chief ministers, said that the country needs to stop the emerging second peak of the coronavirus. He asked them to increase testing and ensure that people follow Covid protocols.