The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation banning Holi celebrations has got to be among the wisest moves by the civic body. The forced proximity that the celebrations entail could see all the progress made in pandemic mitigation come undone in the city.

The government was even forced to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act, which was formulated during the bubonic plague. This shows just how seriously we need to view the current spike in cases. As of Tuesday, new cases in Mumbai had touched a troubling 3,552. While the authorities say this is because of increased testing, what it proves is that people are still walking around with the virus. We have reiterated this innumerable times in this edit that while we may not exhibit any symptoms, we are still potential super spreaders and could very well be the reason for a loved one’s demise.