After a string of days with low numbers of fresh COVID cases and deaths, the city and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) witnessed a surge in cases. Local authorities, however, claimed that it is not due to the reopening of local trains for all, but because of increased testing at arrival points in the city. In MMR, including Mumbai, the number of cases increased from 693 on Tuesday to 1,075 on Wednesday, a sharp 55 per cent rise. The city reported more than 500 cases after nearly a month, while the number of deaths were restricted to four.

Commuters on a local train on the Harbour line on February 1, the day services resumed for all. Pic/Shadab Khan