Mumbai Metro back on track, shop curbs lifted, libraries open

Maharashtra on Wednesday allowed Metro rail services to resume, among other relaxations from Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, as it kept to its declining trend of

Maharashtra on Wednesday allowed Metro rail services to resume, among other relaxations from Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, as it kept to its declining trend of cases at 10,552 new infections, which pushed the tally to 1,554,389. The Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), which runs the city’s lone Metro line, between Ghatkopar and Versova, said it would begin operations in a graded manner from Monday, October 19, at 8.30am.

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The state as part of Mission Begin Again — a staggered plan to lift curbs — has allowed restarting of Metro, reopening of all libraries, extending operational hours of shops from October 15. The government, however, has left out the reopening of places of worship in the new order, despite pressure from various quarters and an acrimonious exchange of letters between the chief minister and Maharashtra governor on Tuesday over the issue. Meanwhile, Mumbai monorail services will start from Sunday, in a graded manner, officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said. The services on Mumbai Metro and monorail have been shut since March when the nationwide lockdown was imposed owing to the pandemic.

According to the order issued by state chief secretary Sanjay Kumar, Metro operations can resume in the state from October 15 in a graded manner. The standard operating procedure (SOP) for the operations to start will be issued by the urban development department, the order added. With the resumption of Metro services in Mumbai, traffic jams could reduce on the arterial roads. The MMOPL said it has already initiated safety inspections and trial runs.

School, colleges, educational and coaching institutions, meanwhile, will continue to remain shut till October 31, the order stated. In an attempt to push economic activities the state has allowed Business to Business (B2B) exhibitions, locals markets are allowed to operate, and allowed shops and markets to remain open for two additional hours, all outside the containment zone.

Opening up of cinema halls, gymnasiums, and swimming pools did not feature in the fresh list of relaxations as the state government fears that these places could become hotspots of transmission and give a push to Covid-19 figures.

A senior bureaucrat said, “Cinema halls are crowd pullers in urban centres and could lead to an increase in Covid-19 cases. Therefore the government is of the view to not open them as yet. In the matter of places of worship, it is being considered and some SOPs or guidelines can be formulated to allow its reopening by early next month. Similarly, SOPs are being worked out for gymnasiums.”

The order added that shops and markets are allowed to given two additional hours of operation with an aim to reduce crowding. In Mumbai, for instance, shops are now open between 9am to 7 pm. Local weekly bazaars, including that of animals, will be allowed to operate outside the containment zones from October 15.

The state has also allowed reopening all government and private libraries from October 15 with all necessary Covid-19 precautions. Several delegations met political parties, including Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, to get the state to reopen libraries.

The state government has done away with stamping of passengers arriving at domestic airports and at railway stations of Maharashtra. However, they will be checked for Covid-19 symptoms and will have to adhere to all Covid-19 norms. Health check-ups of the passengers travelling to Maharashtra by outstation trains will not be done, the order stated.

Meanwhile, after two straight days of clocking below 10,000 fresh cases, the state crossed the mark. However, it continued to record fatalities under 200 for the third straight day with 158 deaths on Wednesday. The death toll in the state rose to 40,859. The case fatality rate (CFR) improved to 2.63% after being constant at 2.64% for seven days.

Maharashtra’s active caseload went below 200,000 on Wednesday and stood at 196,288. The state also saw 19,517 patients discharged, taking the tally of the recovered patients to 1,316,769. The recovery rate in the state improved to 84.71%.

Mumbai on Wednesday saw 2,211 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the city’s tally of confirmed cases to 234,602. Mumbai reported 48 fatalities pushing its death toll to 9,555. Mumbai’s active caseload stood at 23,828.

Pune city reported 540 new cases and nine deaths, while its rural areas reported 523 fresh infections and three deaths. Pimpri-Chinchwad reported 282 fresh cases. Nagpur city reported 404 new cases and five deaths, while the rural areas saw 261 new cases and seven deaths.

So far, the state has tested 7,838,318 samples, and in the last 24 hours, 76,313 samples were tested. The state’s overall positivity rate (percentage of tests converting to positive) stood at 19.83%. Currently, 2,380,957 people are in home quarantine and 23,176 people are in institutional quarantine.