While the state government has ordered the closing down of all public places to avoid mass gathering, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has not yet decided on the closure of gardens, visited by around 1 million people every day, mostly senior citizens and children. BMC officials fear that this will take away the city's green lungs from its people.

There are around 1,000 parks and gardens in the city. There has been a consistent demand from citizens for gardens to remain open for a longer duration, after which the BMC had opened some gardens for 24 hours in each ward as a pilot project. However, these green spaces might become hotspots for the spread of Coronavirus as hundreds of citizens gather there every evening. "The number of morning walkers has slightly reduced but with the shutting down of schools, the number of children visiting parks in the evening has gone up," said a security guard at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar garden in front of the collector's office in Bandra.