Maharashtra eases Covid-19 curbs in 14 districts; Mumbai restaurants, cinema halls to function at full capacity

Amid the current decline in overall Covid-19 cases across the country, many states are decided to lift the restrictions imposed during the peak of the third wave of the pandemic. Following a similar suit, the Maharashtra government has decided to ease some Covid-19 curbs.

The government of Maharashtra has eased the Covid-19 curbs in a total of 14 districts, including Mumbai. As the Covid-19 restrictions have been eased, the restaurants, cinema halls, and theatres in these districts will start functioning at full capacity.

A government notification said these are districts where the first vaccination dose is more than 90 percent, second dose over 70 percent, positivity rate less than 10 percent, and bed occupancy of oxygen supported or ICU bed is less than 40 percent, as per PTI reports.

The 14 Maharashtra districts where the Covid-19 norms have been eased are - Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Pune, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Nagpur, Raigad, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Gondia, Chandrapur, and Kolhapur. 

The notification issued by the Maharashtra government states that all the shopping complexes, cinema halls, restaurants and bars, sports complexes, gyms, spas, and swimming pools in these 14 districts are now allowed to operate at 100 percent capacity.

Further, religious places, drama theatres (natyagrihas), tourist places, entertainment parks etc have also been allowed to operate with 100 percent capacity in these districts, the notification said. It also said that other administrative units excluded from the list will continue to function at 50 percent capacity.

This comes as Maharashtra reported just 675 fresh Covid-19 cases across the state on Tuesday, with 104 new Omicron infections. According to the health department, the state's Covid-19 caseload rose to 78,66,380, and the death toll reached 1,43706.

Maharashtra was one of the worst-hit states in the country during all three waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, with daily caseload reaching nearly 40,000 in the state during the peak of the third wave of the pandemic.

(With PTI inputs)