Maharashtra govt lifts curbs on capacity in Mumbai, 14 other districts

A young man gets a dose of vaccine at Nair hospital on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

The 50-per cent capacity restriction put on shopping complexes, cinema halls, restaurants and bars, sports complexes, gyms, spas, swimming pools, religious places, natyagruhas, tourist places and entertainment parks in Mumbai city, Mumbai Suburban, Thane and 11 other districts will be lifted from tomorrow (March 4). However, only fully vaccinated people will be allowed at such facilities, as per the order issued by the state on Wednesday.

All government and private offices and industry can work to full capacity on condition that staff working there are fully vaccinated. There will be no restrictions for inter-state and intra-state movement for fully vaccinated people. The government has, however, remained silent on allowing all on suburban trains, irrespective of their vaccination status.

Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Pune, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Nagpur, Raigad, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Gondia, Chandrapur and Kolhapur have passed the criteria of vaccination (90 per cent first dose and 70 per cent both doses), test positivity rate of less than 10 per cent and bed occupancy of oxygen supported or ICU beds less than 40 per cent.

Outstation passengers arriving at Dadar leave the station premises without Covid-19 testing. Pic/Ashish Raje

Social, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious, political, festival-related events, including those relating to marriages and funerals and other gatherings and congregations are permitted for more than 1,000 people with reasonable restrictions from respective local authorities. In other districts, the attendance in any such gatherings will be limited to 50 per cent of the capacity of the venue or 200, whichever is lower.

Offline classes have been allowed to resume in all academic institutions, subject to orders of local administrative departments concerned. However, institutions have been encouraged to leverage a hybrid model of imparting education through both online and offline modes. All pre-schools as well as anganwadis can also restart physically now.

For those who are not fully vaccinated, inter-state movement is subject to production of negative RT-PCR test reports valid for 72 hours. There will be no need for any NOC for such travel, not required other than for purposes of local authorities. Fully vaccinated status is required for establishments such as home delivery staff, users of public transport and the places where the 50 per cent capacity curb has been lifted.

The districts lacking in vaccination have been asked to press for 100 per cent jabbing coverage. The vaccination status of citizens less than 18 years of age will soon be included in the criteria. The districts have been told to ensure that all staff in schools are fully vaccinated.

The Public Health Department has been directed to provide all information regarding the current COVID situation and testing infrastructure to the community at large for avoiding any misinformation and panic. The orders issued on Wednesday will remain in operation till modified due to any emergent situation, said the chief executive officer of the State Disaster Management Committee, Aseem Gupta, who also heads Maharashtra's Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation Department.

10%
TPR required for easing of restrictions