Delta Plus variant cases rise in Maharashtra: tightens covid guidelines; what’s allowed, what’s not

Mumbai: Maharashtra government has imposed state wide ‘level 3’ restrictions starting from today amid fears of a third wave of coronavirus. The state is also witnessing multiple cases of highly infectious ‘Delta Plus’ variant.

Here is all you need to know about ‘level 3’ restrictions in Maharashtra:

Shop timings:

From today, all essential shops allowed to remain open only till 4 pm on all days, and non-essential shops and establishments can remain open till 4 pm only on weekdays. Restaurants are allowed to operate dine-in facility with 50% capacity till 4 pm on weekdays and takeaways and home deliveries after that, according to the order.

Suburban trains in Mumbai:

The suburban trains will operate only for medical staff and personnel engaged in essential services, while gyms and salons are allowed to remain open till 4 pm at 50% capacity.

Major cities to be impacted:

The new order will impact cities like Nagpur, Thane and Pune as they had seen more relaxations than Mumbai, which continued to be under ‘level 3’ restrictions, despite qualifying for ‘level 1’ where all curbs are allowed to be lifted.

The state government on Friday announced a ‘state-level trigger’ for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of the weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage. The weekly positivity rate regarding levels of restrictions will be determined on the basis of RT-PCR tests, and not rapid antigen or other tests.

Administrative units:

Restrictions in administrative units will remain at a level not below 3, the government had said, and also called for pushing for 70 per cent vaccination of eligible population in the state.

District administrations have been asked to take various steps, including testing, vaccination and enforcement of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and penalty for violators. If there is an upward trend in number of coronavirus positive cases, the district disaster management authority will impose higher-level of restrictions, the order said.