Mumbai stares at another lockdown

MAHARASHTRA IS BACK AT the country’s top spot again, reporting maximum daily Covid infections in recdent months.

Mumbai is staring at another lockdown as the coronavirus cases have kept rising in the city since last few days. Mayor Kishori Pednekar said that lockdown may be reimposed in the city if people continue to flout basic Covid-19 rules.

“It’s a matter of concern. Most people travelling in local trains don’t wear masks. People must take precautions or we will head towards another lockdown. Whether a lockdown will be implemented again is in the hands of people,” Ms Pednekar said on Tuesday.

The mayor appealed to people to follow safety rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19. “We should continue wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distance. Even almost a year after Covid-19 outbreak, citizens have to take precautions. If carelessness is shown, the State Government might think of another lockdown in the city,” she said.

There has been an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city after the local trains, considered to be the lifeline of Mumbai, were restarted for the general public from February 1.

Though Suresh Kakani, the additional commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) denied the possibility of imposing another lockdown in the city, he said the next 10 days would be crucial for the city.

“We had expected some rise in the coronavirus cases in the city after opening all modes of transport for the general public. Hence, the BMC is taking strict measures to conduct contact tracing, testing and ensuring Covid rules are followed,” he said.

According to the civic sources, places like Borivali, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Kandivali, Malad, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulund and Chembur have again seen a rise in coronavirus cases in recent days.

Maharashtra is back at the country’s top spot again, reporting maximum daily infections. Mumbai city is reporting the highest single-day cases in the state with a spike of 461 on Tuesday, 493 on Monday and 645 on Sunday. The total number of coronavirus patients in the city has reached 3,15,030, while the number of deaths is 11,423.

New Delhi, Feb. 16: The Chinese investor in the parent firm of Koo, India's answer to Twitter, is on its way out after other investors have pledged to buy out its 9 per cent stake, Koo's co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna said.

Koo, which caught public attention after the government's tussle with Twitter over the removal of inflammatory contents, has crossed over 3 million downloads, with about a million active users.

Koo's investors include Accel Partners, 3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. Global venture capital firm Shunwei is also an investor in Bombinate Technologies, the parent of Koo.

Shunwei Capital, which is led by a partnership team that includes people of Chinese origin, had invested in the earlier product of Bombinate, an app called Vokal.

Since Bombinate has pivoted its primary business and focused on Koo, Shunwei has committed to exiting the company, he said.

"Back in 2018, when we had just started with question-answer app Vokal, we got interest from Shunwei, which was a prolific Chinese investor in the content space," Radhakrishna said in an interview. Shunwei had invested across multiple companies in India and Bombinate was one of them.

"Over 2018 to now, Koo was started as an experiment and it gained traction. We had no idea, this will be a national sentiment product and that we should not take money other than Indian or something that is unwelcome," he said. "Nobody really questions about Vokal. It's about Koo."

He said when the investment happened, Koo didn't exist.

"Koo started getting traction recently. And the latest round of investment ($4.1 million in Bombinate) was led by 3one4 Capital and Shunwei hasn't participated. We actually made sure that there is no more participation from Chinese investors," he said.

Shunwei, he said, its way out.

"Exits are a matter of timing. You need to have the interest to buy out existing shareholders as well," he said. "First priority was to infuse capital into the company. And if there will be more interest we will request Shunwei to exit. We now have enough interest to buy them out. They have also agreed to exit and this is in the process."

He did not say who would buy out Shunwei. Shunwei Capital, he said, held about 9 per cent interest in Bombinate.

Due to the increased restrictions on Chinese investors in India, the exit procedure was working through the required checks and clarifications before being completed, he said. is on