Maha tally at 72,300, but unlocking begins

After 71 days, Maharashtra will allow its citizens to walk, run, exercise and cycle at open spaces, playgrounds and sports complexes from today, as the government

After 71 days, Maharashtra will allow its citizens to walk, run, exercise and cycle at open spaces, playgrounds and sports complexes from today, as the government eases lockdown restrictions on Wednesday, when the first phase of state’s three-phase ‘Mission Begin Again’ kicks in.

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The government has allowed relaxations, including opening of markets and private offices in red zones, but not in containment zones, even as 2,287 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases were reported on Tuesday, pushing the infection count to 72,300.

Of the fresh infections, 38,493 are active cases, which accounts for 53.24% of the total cases, according to the state health department.

However, despite the scheduled lifting of curbs, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray appealed to people to stay indoors in view of Cyclone Nisarga, which is likely to make landfall by Wednesday afternoon. Mumbai is likely to be affected by the cyclone.

“Although, we have decided to give relaxations from tomorrow, it will be in the interest of everyone to stay at home tomorrow and day after as we all know the cyclone is likely to come at Alibaug (near Mumbai). Everything will remain closed for two days, including industries,” Thackeray said in his live address to the state on Tuesday evening.

Last Friday, the state had recorded 116 fatalities, highest so far. However, the government had clarified that 70 of them were from past 13 days.

Of 103 deaths, 49 are in Mumbai, 10 each in Mira Bhayander and Pune, six each in Raigad, Satara, five in Solapur, four each in Navi Mumbai, Panvel, three each in Sangli and Akola and one each in Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar.

Of the deaths, 59 were of above 60 years of age, while 39 were in the age group of 40 to 59 years and the remaining five were below the age of 40 years. Of the deceased, 69 had high-risk co-morbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and heart ailments, health officials said.

Mumbai also recorded 1,117 new cases on Saturday and its case count stands at 42,216. Of them, 23,629 are active cases. The city’s toll stands at 1,368.

On May 22, Mumbai had reported its highest one-day jump in cases — 1,751.

Officials said that the cases are likely to surge for a few more days after which they are expecting decline in numbers. “We are concerned that with more relaxations, more people will step out and get exposed to the virus. This ultimately will result in asurge in cases. We are already experiencing a rise in cases in the districts where there were no cases or were minimal in number before relaxations were given in the state on May 20,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

Dr Tatyarao Lahane, director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), said, “We are of the opinion that the trend will continue till the sixth incubation cycle of 14 days is completed, after which the decline in cases will start.”

The sixth incubation cycle will be completed on June 14.

In the state cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, the state health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas informed that 35.23%, of the total patients in the country are in the state and the recovery rate of the state is 43.33%. He also said that maximum 40% of patients are in the age group of 30-40 years, while 18% patients are in the age group of 40-50 years and 16.5% patients are in the age group of 50-60 years.

After the Centre announced its guidelines on lockdown 5.0 billed as ‘Unlock 1’, allowing for significant relaxations, the state government on Sunday announced more relaxations that will be applicable in three phases starting from June 3.

According to the state’s notification, physical activities, including walking, running, exercising, cycling, can begin from June 3 in sports complexes, stadia, playgrounds, beaches and open spaces. From June 5, shops, market places can be open (on odd-even basis) and from June 8 private offices (up to 10 per cent of staff) can start operating. The relaxations are applicable for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) (the areas governed by nine municipal corporations including Mumbai) Pune, Solapur, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur — the 19 corporations, which have been earmarked as red zones. All the containment zones within the red zones remain excluded from the relaxations.

The non-red zone areas, which include the remaining eight municipal corporations and rest of Maharashra, mostly covering the rural areas, have already been given greater relaxations. All markets, market areas and shops, except malls and market complexes, have now been allowed to open on a P1-P2 basis between 9am and 5pm. Shops on one lane will be allowed to open on odd dates, while another lane will be opened on even dates.

Private offices in all the red zones can now operate at 10% of their strength, with the remaining staff working from home. “The offices will have to take care of transportation facilities for its employees as public transport has not been allowed in red zones,” said a government official. Government offices have been allowed to operate with 15% of their strength of the staff, up from the current permission of 5%. “It is the beginning of the lifting of curbs in a phased manner. Although we have extended the lockdown till June 30, there will be graded relaxations coming in the next four weeks. Industrial and commercial activities will see greater relaxations on the need-base criterion. Few more civic corporations may see exclusion from red zones,” said another official, wishing not to be named

It, however, has also extended lockdown till June 30, which means trains, metro, inter-district transport, educational institutions, malls, multiplexes, please of worship, political-religious-social gatherings, barber shops, spas, saloons will remain closed across the state, irrespective of the zones.

Meanwhile, the state cabinet reviewed the situation arising due to the Covid-19 outbreak on Tuesday. Considering problem being faced by the staff related to the emergency services, it was decided to follow up with the Centre to starting local trains only for them, said a minister, privy to the development.

BMC commissioner IS Chahal also gave a presentation and stated that they have decided to make it mandatory for the laboratories to give Covid-19 test reports in 24 hours. The doubling rate of the cases also rose to 19 days in the city. Some 3,750 private doctors have agreed to serve the city and are being trained for the task.

The health department declared to have conducted 4,83,875 tests at various public and private facilities across Maharashtra. Of them, 4,11,575 people tested negative, said an official. State currently has 3,730 active containment zones. A total of 19,019 survey teams, comprising doctors and assisting staff, have screened more than 71.61 lakh people.

So far, 35,097 people have been kept in institutional quarantine in the state and over 5,70,453 people have been put under home quarantine.

The mortality rate has also slightly increased to 3.40% (2,465 deaths on June 2) from 3.27% (1,792 deaths on May 26). It is also more than the national mortality rate, which is 2.83%, with 5,394 deaths till Sunday, stated the data shared by the state health department.

However, the state has also succeeded in bringing down the mortality rate significantly from last month. On April 13, the mortality rate of the state was 7.41%. (148 deaths). This indicates improvement of 4.4%, the data shows.