COVID-19: BMC Issues New Rules for Sealing Houses, Buildings

BMC circular states that the concerned authority may decide to seal the entire building to prevent the spread.

Mumbai’s BMC Headquarters

(Photo: PTI)

BMC issued a new circular on Tuesday, 15 September, laying down fresh rules to seal houses and buildings in case of coronavirus infections.

According to the circular, if 10 or more cases are detected in the building or if the cases are spread to more than one floor, then the entire building will be sealed.

Apart from this, if more than one case is detected in a house, then the house will also be partially sealed. On Tuesday, the BMC Healthy Department approved the new rules after the COVID-19 review meeting with BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal.

According to earlier rules of BMC, the entire building wouldn’t be sealed if any positive case was detected, and only the apartment where a certain case or cases were found would be sealed.

However, the new BMC circular states that if needed, the concerned authority may decide to seal the entire building to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Cases Increasing Rapidly in Mumbai

On Tuesday, 2,378 new corona-infected cases were reported in Mumbai, while close to 50 people died. There have been 31,766 active cases in Mumbai while 8,280 people have died due to the coronavirus.

On 10 August, Mumbai’s doubling rate was at 89 days, which went down to 55 days on 16 September, implying that the challenges before BMC are not over yet.