Even as the Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to ease Covid-19 related restrictions in 25 districts of the 36 districts as the state is witnessing a decline in fresh infection cases, the Centre dispatched a high-level team to Kerala in view of the rising cases in the southern state.
Maharashtra Health minister Rajesh Tope made the announcement about relaxations after a meeting of the Covid-19 task force chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who will take the final call and an order on the same will be out in a day or two. The 25 districts, including Mumbai, are those where the positivity rate and weekly growth rate are lower than the state’s average.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, along with Tope, met the task force to know their view on relaxation and easing of Covid-related restrictions across several districts of the state. “We’ve decided to give relaxation in restrictions in 25 districts. Relaxation will be given in functioning of shops, theaters, cinema halls, gyms. There would be restrictions in wedding functions, etc, we would discourage using an air-conditioned hall,” Tope said, as the state witnessed 6.8 thousand new cases on Thursday.
At a same time, no relaxations will be given to 11 districts that have more than average positivity and growth rate. “Things will be open on Saturdays with limitations, on Sunday, the restrictions will continue. Detailed guidelines will be issued in the next 2-3 days. Hotels and shops timings will increase till 8-9 pm. But they need to ensure staff is fully vaccinated; they’ll be allowed to function with 50% capacity,” Tope said. The state currently has 10 districts with positivity rates above the state average of 3.8%. These are Satara, Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Beed, Raigad, and Ratnagiri.
The task force also discussed the issue of allowing fully vaccinated citizens to travel by local trains, Mumbai’s lifeline. The public health department of state is not in favour of allowing people with two Covid-19 doses to commute in suburban trains amid the threat of spread of infection due to the Delta Plus variant. While there has been rising demand for local trains, no decision has been taken yet on the same.
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has dispatched a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Kerala, which reported 22,064 new cases and pandemic-related 128 deaths on Thursday,to collaborate with the state health authorities in instituting effective public health measures for Covid-19 management. The six-member Central team to Kerala is headed by Dr S.K. Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The team shall reach Kerala on Friday and visit the most affected districts.
The team shall work closely with the state health department, and take a stock of the ground situation and recommend necessary public health interventions to contain the large number of cases being reported by the state.
The Kerala government on Thursday announced a complete lockdown amid the spike of Covid-19 cases from 31 July to 1 August, this year.
Kerala, with an active case load of 1.54 lakh, is contributing 37.1% of the total active cases in the country, with a growth rate of 1.41 in the last seven days. Average daily cases being reported in the state are above 17,443. The state has also reported a high case positivity of 12.93% cumulatively and 11.97% weekly. Six districts are reporting more than 10% weekly positivity.
Meanwhile, registering a spike, India reported 43,509 daily new cases on Thursday. As per the data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India’s active caseload now stands at 4,03,840 and active cases now constitute 1.28% of the country’s total positive cases.