COVID-19: Public gardens, beaches to remain open in Mumbai from 6 am to 10 pm

Earlier, on June 4 this year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had allowed these places to open for the public from 5 am to 9 am.

PTI

August 16, 2021 / 10:17 IST

All public gardens, playgrounds, chowpatties and beaches in Mumbai will now remain open from 6 am to 10 pm as part of fresh relaxations in COVID-19 restrictions, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Monday.

Earlier, on June 4 this year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had allowed these places to open for the public from 5 am to 9 am.

The BMC on Sunday issued fresh guidelines under "Break the Chain" programme, using powers conferred by the Maharashtra government to decide the timings.

"Public grounds, gardens, beaches and sea fronts to remain open from 6 am to 10 pm," Chahal said on Monday. All other guidelines issued by the state government on August 11 will be effective till the next order, the BMC said.

Under the modified "Break the Chain" guidelines issued on August 11, the state government had given powers to local authorities to decide about opening the public gardens, playgrounds and beaches.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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