Third wave of Covid-19 is not coming, it is already here: Mumbai mayor warns

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday issued a warning to people in view of the coronavirus outbreak, saying that the third wave of COVID-19 has already arrived. While appealing to people to keep the upcoming festival celebrations as a low key affair, Pednekar urged them to wear masks and maintain social distancing at public places.

Mumbai mayor's warning statement comes a day after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the third wave of COVID-19 is at Maharashtra's doorsteps.

The "third wave of COVID-19 is at our doorsteps," the Maharashtra CM said while asking political parties to stop programmes, agitations to avoid attracting a huge crowd.

Thackeray also appealed to the citizens to tone down the celebrations during the upcoming festivals.

"We can celebrate festivals later. Let us prioritise the lives and health of our citizens. The situation can go out of hand in view of the spike in daily cases. Who would like to impose restrictions on festivals and religious programmes? But people's lives are important," the Maharashtra CM said.

"Kerala is seeing a spike of 30,000 cases daily. This is a danger signal and if we don't take it seriously, Maharashtra will have to pay a heavy price," Thackeray added.

As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data, in just the first 6 days of September, Mumbai registered over 28 per cent of total COVID-19 cases recorded in August.