Full vaccination or penalty: Maharashtra's new rules to tackle omicron variant. Check details

Earlier in the day, Mumbai announced various precautionary measures, including quarantine of people arriving from South Africa, in the wake of the spread of the new omicron variant of coronavirus.

In wake of the emergence of the new Coronavirus variant ‘omicron’ in South Africa and other nations, the Maharashtra government on Saturday swung into action and issued fresh restrictions for people in the state and travellers arriving from other destinations.

Full vaccination or penalty: Maharashtra's new rules to tackle omicron variant. (Representational image) (REUTERS)

Check here the full list of restrictions:

>According to the state government's guidelines, all domestic travellers must either be fully vaccinated or carry an RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours.

>Passengers arriving from any international destination shall be governed by directions of the government of India in this respect, as per the official order.

>The Maharashtra government has also made complete vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for people using public transport and are using public places including government offices, shops, malls etc.

>Further, maintaining Covid-19-appropriate behaviour in taxis, private cars has been made compulsory.

>A penalty of ₹500 would be imposed on those who are found violating the norms and also on the conductor/driver. Vehicles owners will be charged a fine of ₹10,000 if a passenger is found violating norms inside their vehicles.

>Maximum attendance at weddings in open places, lawns, grounds has been limited to 25% of the venue's capacity. In closed spaces, the limit has been capped at 50% of the capacity.

Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra

On November 26, Maharashtra reported 852 new coronavirus infections and 34 Covid-19-related deaths, taking the caseload in the state to 66,32,723 and fatalities to 1,40,891, according to the state's health department.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai announced various precautionary measures, including quarantine of people arriving from South Africa, in the wake of the spread of the new omicron variant of coronavirus. The samples collected from these people will be sent for genome sequencing, said the city's mayor, Kishori Pednekar.

'Omicron’ variant

‘Omicron’ was first detected in Botswana in southern Africa on November 9. Since then the variant has been reported in Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. The variant is reported to have a significantly high number of mutations, and thus, has serious public health implications for the country, in view of recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening up of international travel."