Maharashtra allows reopening of cinema halls, auditoriums from Oct 22; final SOP next week

The cinema halls and auditoriums across Maharashtra are expected to be open at 50% of the seating capacity

A day after the Maharashtra government announced reopening schools and places of worship across the state, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced that cinema halls and auditoriums will open their doors to people from October 22. The state government will finalise and issue standard operating procedure (SOP) early next week for the management of the cinema halls and auditoriums to follow, senior officials said.

A medic collects swab samples for Covid-19 test of passengers arriving on outstation trains at Dadar station, in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government will finalise and issue standard operating procedure (SOP) early next week for the management of the cinema halls and auditoriums to follow, senior officials said (HT PHOTO)

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with a delegation of cinema and theatre owners on Saturday, where film director-producer Rohit Shetty was also present, following which, the decision on reopening the cinema halls and auditoriums was taken. As a part of its graded unlocking of restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the state has been giving relaxations since August.

The theatres and auditoriums are expected to be opened with 50% of the seating capacity. Senior officials also said that it may be opened for only fully vaccinated citizens, but a final call is yet to be taken on the same. A senior bureaucrat said that the state will finalise the SOP on Monday in a meeting by chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, additional chief secretary (health) Pradeep Vyas and other senior officials.

“Like last time, the cinema halls and auditoriums will open with 50% seating capacity. The meeting also discussed if only fully vaccinated people should be allowed with a view to lower the risk and also encourage vaccination. However, the final call will be made next week,” the official said requesting anonymity.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut led the delegation to meet chief minister Thackeray. Film director-producer Rohit Shetty, actors Kunal Kapoor, Makrand Deshpande, Subodh Bhave and Adesh Bandekar were also present among others. Raut said, “The meeting was between owners of the cinema halls and auditorium as the industry has been struggling for the past two years nearly. In the beginning, it would open up with 50% capacity. What other restrictions will be put will be decided in a meeting on Monday.”

Maharashtra, meanwhile, continued to report cases around the 3,500-mark. On Saturday, it logged 3,276 fresh Covid-19 infections. It also added 58 deaths, taking the death toll to 138,834. The state’s active case count reduced to 37,984. Mumbai logged 455 fresh cases on Saturday, taking its tally to 740,760. It reported five fatalities, pushing the death toll to 16,079 Mumbai’s active caseload was 5,276.

A health department official said that the state is opening up activities that were restricted as the infectivity rate is low. The department and local administration in the state, however, is monitoring the situation weekly as they expect some spurt in Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks due to crowding during celebrations of religious festivals. “Week on week the positivity is falling, the active cases are dropping now, and the bed occupancy too is low at the moment. However, we expect some increase in cases following the Ganeshotsav celebrations across the state. Increased surveillance and targeted tests will keep the spread low, and district administration have been directed the same,” a senior official said requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, the city reported 455 cases and five deaths, taking the tally to 740,760 and toll to 16,079. On Saturday, 40,911 tests were reported in the city, meaning a daily positivity rate of 1.10%. The city’s recovery rate is 96% with 716,941 recoveries. The mortality rate is 2.17 and there are 5,276 active cases.

Dr Shashank Joshi, Member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 TaskForce said, “As the second wave has settled now there is systematic relaxations being given by the state government. We have realised that after Ganesh festival too there has not been a major spike yet. The situation looks good with our vaccination too happening at a good pace and based on these parameters, mindful unlocking is happening.”

Dr Joshi added, “We still have to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and have to follow the strictly framed standard operating procedures (SOP)’s for mindful relaxation. For reopening of school also our pediatric taskforce have framed very strict SOP that has to be followed for reopening of schools.”