Maharashtra eases Covid curbs, allows opening of malls, eatering

The move comes days after the state allowed fully vaccinated people to travel in local trains in Mumbai Metropolitan Region from Independence Day. Religious places and theatres, multiplexes and auditoriums will remain shut until further orders, the government has said.

Mumbai The Maharashtra government on Wednesday further relaxed Covid-19 curbs, allowing shopping malls and restaurants to remain open till 10 pm with 50% capacity from August 15, provided the entire staff is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, state health minister Rajesh Tope said after a cabinet meeting.

The crowd at a weekly market in Mumbai on Wednesday. (ANI)

The move comes days after the state allowed fully vaccinated people to travel in local trains in Mumbai Metropolitan Region from Independence Day. Religious places and theatres, multiplexes and auditoriums will remain shut until further orders, the government has said.

Tope identified “shopping malls, hotels, gyms, bars, spas and shops” as the establishments that will be afforded the relaxation, and added that the mall management will have to ensure that all employees and customers are fully vaccinated before allowing them entry.

The number of people allowed to attend weddings has been increased to 200 if they are held at open places like lawns. But for closed venues, the number of attendees is restricted to 100 or 50% of the seating capacity. Indoor games have been allowed till 10pm, too, provided everyone, including the players on the premises, is fully vaccinated.

Private offices, too, have been allowed to operate at their full capacity and round the clock, provided the office timings are staggered and the employees are fully vaccinated. “The offices can operate at 25% of their capacity per shift if the employees are fully vaccinated. Private offices are, for the first time, being allowed to operate day and night, but they should follow the Covid-19 protocol,” Tope said.

But these relaxations will be rolled back should another wave of infections strike, the minister said. To decide that, the state cabinet has fixed a threshold for oxygen requirement to treat Covid-19 patients. “If the daily requirement of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) reaches 700 metric tonnes (MT), strict lockdown will be imposed immediately,” Tope said. “Maharashtra’s LMO generation per day is 1,300MT, which is expected to go up to 2,000 MT in the next few days because of augmentation measures taken by us going by the central government’s directions.”

The minister also said that the relaxations would be applicable even in those 11 districts that have a higher number of daily Covid-19 cases and a high test positivity rate. However, the district administrations might want to impose local-level restrictions in the tehsils. “A few tehsils in Satara and Solapur are going through such restrictions and curfews. The containment at the local level will be effectively implemented in these districts,” Tope said.

Maharashtra recorded5,560 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

Experts, however, warned of a rise in cases due to the relaxations.

“We are apprehensive about a rise in cases after the festive season and also because of the relaxations similar to that seen after the first wave last year. This time, hopefully, it would not be that severe because of the vaccination coverage,” said Dr Avinash Supe, who heads the state-appointed Covid-19 death audit committee.

“The people should follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, while the local authorities should ensure that tracking of the close contacts of infected people and testing are done properly,” he added.