Mumbai, March 20: Amid the rising COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, the  Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday said that Rapid Antigen Testing will be done randomly without citizens' consent at crowded places across the city. In its order, the civic body said that random COVID-19 testing will be done at crowded places like malls, railway stations, bus depots, khau galli, markets, tourist places, government offices. The BMC added that if a citizen refuses to get tested, they would be booked under Epidemic Act. Maharashtra Slides Under 2nd Wave of COVID-19, Centre Asked to Pace Vaccination Campaign in Districts Witnessing Sharp Increase in Infections.

On Friday, the BMC had decided to double the number of COVID-19 tests from 25,000 per day now to 50,000, the decision coming on a day when Mumbai reported a record 3,062 cases, officials said. The decision was taken after a virtual meeting chaired by Mumbai civic commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. The BMC also decided to increase the daily COVID-19 vaccination target in the city to 1 lakh, as the number of inoculation centres in the private sector had been increased from 59 to 80, officials said. Maharashtra Government Issues Fresh COVID-19 Guidelines Amid Rising Coronavirus cases; Private Offices, Theatres to Operate at 50% Capacity Till March 31.

Here's the tweet by ANI:

#COVID19 | Rapid Antigen Testing to be done randomly without citizens' consent at crowded places like malls, railway stations, bus depots, khau galli, markets, tourist places, govt offices. If a citizen refuses to get tested, they'd be booked under Epidemic Act: BMC #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/oFi16CWZZf

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021

According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh are seeing a steep rise in daily COVID-19 cases. On Friday, Mumbai crossed the daily count of 3,000-plus COVID-19 cases on Friday for the first time since the pandemic hit the country, Maharashtra's total tally zoomed past 24 lakh with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray warning that "a lockdown is an option in future".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2021 06:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).