Maharashtra Lockdown update: 14 districts see relaxations while Pune, Sangli and others remain under lockdown

Amid the current situation of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government has decided to allow some relaxations in 14 districts while 11 other districts will continue having restrictions including Pune, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri due to their high positivity rate.  

The Maharashtra government allowed shops to remain open till 8 pm from Monday in the districts where the COVID-19 cases are relatively low. There is still a hesitation to open the Mumbai local trains for all in the first phase because of the population of the city and that's why the unlock is taking place slowly. CM Uddhav Thackeray has also appealed to the private sector to cooperate and asked them to split the office timings, reduce attendance, increase work from home so that it make the unlocking of local trains easy and less risky. 

Addressing the media in Sangli, CM Uddhav Thackeray appealed to the citizens to lend their full cooperation where relaxations are taking place in order to control the COVID-19 cases. "As far as giving relaxation is concerned, the state government is issuing an order today allowing shops to remain open till 8 pm (where positivity rate is low). However, where the number of cases is still not coming down, restrictions will remain the same," he said. 

Many vendors and shopkeepers are demanding the shops to remain open till 8 pm in districts like Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindudurg but this does not seem to be happening soon as the positivity rate in these areas is extremely high. "I have asked district collectors to increase the number of tests as well as doctors to ensure people are protected for Covid-19 as well as water-borne diseases," said CM Uddhav Thackeray.

Level 3 restrictions to continue in these districts:

-Kolhapur
-Sangli
-Satara
-Pune
-Ratnagiri
-Sindhudurg
-Solapur
-Ahmednagar
-Beed
-Raigad
-Palghar