The Coronavirus cases are once again on the rise in the country and taking the predicament in account the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Friday decided to start random sampling at crowded places in the city, including malls and markets. According to reports, this new rule will come into effect from March 22. The restriction has been announced a day after the city of Mumbai recorded the highest-ever single-day spike with 2,877 fresh cases on Thursday. Mumbai district has become the third-highest number of active infections in the country with 17,153 active cases.

This piece of news has brought in much grief to the exhibitors and distributors who were looking forward to people returning back to theatres after almost a year. After much back-and-forth the theatres were given the permission to seat people with full occupancy, however, some regions are still running with only 50% capacity. The Maharashtra government's rule to get a Rapid Antigen test done before entering the malls has dealt a crushing blow to the plex lobby and film industry who are of the opinion that people would not flock to theatres to watch a film after standing for the test and paying Rs 250 for it, doubling the cost of the film.

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Producer-distributor Ramesh Sippy told an online portal, “It's so scary. The movie business has already touched almost rockbottom. It's crystal clear that it will only further worsen." Trade analyst Amod Mehra called it a Doomsday for movie business. Distributor DS Bansal told the daily, “Why would anyone like to stand in a queue and undergo a test before seeing a movie? What is going to be so special in any film that he/she will happily undergo the test randomly at a mall and in all likelihood pay Rs 1,000 extra for his family and himself?"

Mumbai currently has 34 active containment zones and 267 buildings sealed. The maximum new infections have been reported in the last two months have been from apartments, as per authorities. With the rising number of cases and stringent actions taken by the government, looks like entertainment industry is going to see a bleak scenario.

(Source: TOI/Hindustan Times)