'Corona will go on for more than six months now in Mumbai city.' 'It cannot vanish within just two or three months.' 'This infection may remain there in communities, somewhere or the other, like swine flu.'

'Most of the cases in Mumbai are asymptomatic -- 85 per cent you can say.' 'Only 10 to 15 per cent are symptomatic.'

'Our preparation is based on ICMR projections, whatever preparations we have to make.' 'If they project around 70,000 is the maximum number of hospital cases by mid-May or May 30, we are preparing accordingly -- how many people will need hospitalisation.'

'If done well, the containment measures can help minimise the impact of the epidemic.'

More than 90 police cars, fire brigade engines and other city government vehicles saluted Dr Uma Rani Madhusudana for her non-stop, tirelessly devoted work in the care of COVID-19 patients at a hospital over 8 difficult and dangerous days.

'I am proud of Maharashtra and the city of Mumbai, that this is a state which has done more number of tests than any state in India.' 'The more you test, the more number of cases you will pick up.' 'If you do not do the tests, then you are groping in the dark.'

'I would like to reassure the general populace that your government, both Centre and state and the city councils are working at an accelerated pace.'

'Mumbai is testing a lot compared to a lot of other places in the country.' 'Now that we exactly know where the hotspots are, and they've been converted into containment zones, there is a lot of testing, going on, from door to door and symptom screening.' 'In the last 10 to 15 days we have definitely done a good job.'

'We hope that people are aware that even after the lockdown, we will have to follow a lot of things that we were following during the lockdown.' 'Don't get out for non-essential things.' 'Don't gather together for parties, religious events or at religious places.' 'Ensure social distancing at work and otherwise.' 'You know, in India, it is not uncommon for people with a cough and a cold to go to work.' 'We really want people to understand that if you have a cough, cold, fever, just stay at home.' 'Don't get back to work or don't get back to school.'

'Kerala is probably the only state, where (with regard to) the clinical management and the overall protocols, we have an infectious disease team heading the whole containment plan.'

'The only idea -- the only idea -- of the shutdown was to buy time.'

'We will need more than 21 days of lockdown for sure.'

'It is a bigger challenge for Mumbai because we have a dense population and people are staying in very, very small rooms.' 'So even if there is one case, then it can spread to you know, four or five people are staying together.'

'Restrict the amount of time you spend on social media.' 'We have people who are glued to it from morning to night, which is certainly not what we recommend.' 'And do not take the stuff that you read on WhatsApp as sacrosanct.' 'A lot of it is absolutely nonsense.'

'Without it, it is going to be much, much, much, much worse.' 'In the meantime, we really need to work on a sort of war footing, given that it is a natural disaster, provide relief, provide essentials, till we get biological herd immunity, we need to get economic immunity, and also social immunity.'

About 9 million people in Mumbai live in areas where homes are hardly two metres apart. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com reports on the lurking dangers in the city's slums in the times of the coronavirus.

What you need to know about the coronavirus.

'Even after this epidemic gets over, we know that there are going to be months of effects on the economy and poverty.' 'A lot of things are catastrophic for people from the lower socio-economic classes.' 'Social distancing is going to start killing their day-to-day wages.' 'We are not even measuring that impact.'

'If we cannot handle an epidemic of that strata, (causing that kind) of excessive calamity, then we really have to prevent it.' 'If we become complacent in even preventing it, then we are in for a disaster.'

A virologist answers questions on the deadly virus presently haunting the world.