Mumbai will see no big rallies and protest marches or any big gatherings over the weekend as the Mumbai police clamped down on such assemblies over the Omicron COVID-19 variant scare in the city.

The order issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), which will be in force for 48 hours on Saturday and Sunday, prohibits rallies and protest marches involving people and vehicles.

"It has been issued to prevent danger to human life from the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 as well as a threat to the law and order situation against the backdrop of violence that took place in Amravati, Malegaon and Nanded," an official said to PTI.

Violators will be punished under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and other legal provisions, the ordered stated.

The order came on Friday when the city reported three new cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant that took Maharashtra's tally to 17 and India's to 32.

On Friday, Maharashtra reported a total of seven new Omicron infections, four coming from Pimpri Chinchwad and three from the financial capital of the country, the state health department.

The three patients in Mumbai are men, aged 48, 25 and 37, all have recent history of travel to Tanzania, UK and South Africa Nairobi respectively.

On Friday, officials had said that a resident of Dharavi area in Mumbai, who recently returned from Tanzania, had contracted the Omicron infection.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said the 49-year-old man, a Maulavi, who had arrived in Mumbai to give sermons at a mosque in Dharavi, is "completely asymptomatic" and is admitted at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai, reported News18.

Furthermore, a 25-year-old traveller returning from London tested positive for COVID-19 on 1 December and he had taken both doses of the vaccine. He had no symptoms of COVID-19. The 37-year-old Gujarat resident tested positive to COVID-19 on 4 December after arrival. He was shifted to hospital directly from the airport and he has mild symptoms, though he was fully vaccinated, the BMC said.

Centre warns against declining mask usage

The detection of these cases on Friday came as the government announced that 25 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.

Speaking at a joint press briefing, Joint secretary, health ministry, Lav Agarwal had said that till 24 November only two cases of the new COVID-19 variant, which has been called a ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organisation, had been detected. However, as of Friday, 59 countries have reported 2,936 instances of the Omicron infections.
The government also issued a warning about declining mask usage and safety norms.

"WHO is warning against the decline in mask usage. Global scene of Omicron is disturbing... We are now operating at a risky and unacceptable level. We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important," Dr VK Paul, the NITI Aayog member for health said.

A recent survey revealed that mask compliance continues to remain at its lowest in the country, with only 2 percent of surveyed citizens saying that people in their area, city or district are complying well with mask-wearing norms. The survey conducted by digital community based platform LocalCircles, said that one in three Indians do not carry a mask when they step out of their house.

With inputs from agencies

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