The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The Indian state of Maharashtra, home to the city of Mumbai, has seen a worrying recent spike of Covid-19 cases, prompting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to require random rapid antigen tests to be carried out in crowded places in Mumbai, including malls, railway stations, bus depots, markets, tourist sites and government offices, according to Indian financial newspaper, Mint.
The state has this week seen new cases exceed 30,000 per day for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) has reportedly written to the BMC, requesting they lower the number of random rapid antigen tests required to be carried out at malls in Mumbai (that number currently stands at 400 per day) and also asking the civic body to bear the cost of testing.
The move to carry out random testing, said SCAI, “is likely to spread fear among the public, dissuade genuine shoppers who have slowly returned to shopping centres and put into motion a spiralling effect on modern retail that could derail recovery of the segment.”
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