The number of containment zones in Mumbai has come down to 805 after it surged past the 1,000-mark in the previous week. In a welcome development, Mumbai's Mayor Kishori Pednekar made the announcement in this regard on Sunday.

Pednekar said that containment zones in Mumbai had climbed to 1,036 just last week, but have come down to 805. Containment zones are areas identified as Covid-19 hotspots. These areas are sealed and security forces, including local police are deployed to ensure that residents of these areas do not step out of the containment zone.

The purpose of this exercise is to contain the spread of infection. In Mumbai, the police are working with NGOs and volunteers to facilitate doorstep delivery of essential goods such as food items, dairy products and medicine.

While interacting with media persons on Monday, Mayor Kishore Pednekar also said that 231 areas have been removed from the list of Mumbai's containment zones because they reported no new cases in the last 14 days. This exercise will bring relief to people living in those areas as they will be allowed to step out of their homes only to buy essentials. "I appeal to those people that you still have to follow lockdown rules," Pednekar said.

The Mayor also requested residents of Mumbai city not to step out of their homes and stay safe. Mumbai has emerged as the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in Maharashtra, the state with the most confirmed cases and casualties of infection in India.