MUMBAI: On a day the state and city registered their lowest daily Covid cases in about a month, the Maharashtra government eased restrictions, doing away with the limit on mourners at funerals, opening national parks and tourist spots and allowing spas and salons to open at 50% capacity.
It further allowed bigger weddings, review of night curfew hours, possible extension of timings for restaurants and theaters, and reopening of swimming pools in districts that have fully vaccinated 70% of their 18-plus population and given 90% at least one shot.
Mumbai is among 11 such districts that can ease almost all the curbs imposed earlier this month. Beaches, gardens and parks will be allowed to reopen as per timings fixed by the local authorities.
BMC can ease Mumbai restaurant, theater timings
On Monday, the weekend effect on the state’s Covid graph was apparent as the daily tally dropped 32% to 15,140, the lowest in 28 days.
Deaths, too, dropped to 39 from 50. The number of tests in the state were lower than usual — 1.2 lakh on Sunday as against 1.7 lakh on Saturday.
Cases were down in Mumbai too, with the tally dipping below 1,000 (960) for the first time in 36 days of the Omicron wave. A BMC doctor said the cases had declined by 17% in the Sunday-Monday period despite the usual number of tests (45,618). The daily toll remained steady at 11 deaths.
With cases dropping, the state government allowed amusement parks, theme parks, swimming pools and water parks to open at 50% capacity in the 11 districts with high vaccinations. Swimming pools have been allowed to reopen for the first time since the pandemic for the public.
Theatres, restaurants have also been allowed to open according to timings decided by the local district authorities with 50% capacity. At the moment, these are allowed to operate till 10pm.
Attendance in weddings too have been increased to 25% of the capacity of the open ground and banquet hall or 200 guests, which ever is lower. Currently, the state allows a maximum of 50 people to attend weddings and 20 people to attend funerals.
“The idea is to reward high vaccine coverage districts. This will help encourage other districts to increase their pace of vaccination,” said a senior official. The exercise will be reviewed weekly and as districts meet the target, they will be allowed to ease restrictions too. Apart from Mumbai, the 10 districts include Pune, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Gondia, Kolhapur and Chandrapur. For the state’s remaining 25 districts, most restrictions will continue.
The district disaster management authority may permit up to 25% audience in an arena to view competitive sports and other activities, including horse racing. Weekly bazaars in the 11 districts may be allowed with reasonable restrictions.