On Friday, in a late-night announcement, the Maharashtra government stated that it will lift lockdown restrictions from Monday through its five-level unlock plan. The lockdown in Maharashtra will be relaxed on the basis of Covid positivity rate and availability of oxygen beds in the state. The order will be performed from Monday.
The Maharashtra government said in a statement, “Lockdown restrictions will be relaxed on the basis of COVID positivity rate and availability of oxygen beds in Maharashtra.” The degree of relaxation has been decided as per the level of severity of Covid-19 in those districts.
As per the guidelines, the situation will be evaluated every Thursday by the Public Health Department.
The five-level unlock plan in Maharashtra:
Level 1
All districts where the Covid case positivity rate is 5 percent or less and the occupancy of hospital beds is lower than 25 percent fall under level 1. These districts will be allowed to unlock completely and all activities will continue normally.
Theatres, malls, private and government offices will be permitted to open in these districts. Weddings, funerals, and film shootings will also be permitted. Production and other industries can also resume in levels 1 and 2 areas without any constraints.
Level 2
Cities and districts that have a 5 percent Covid case positivity rate and 25-40 percent occupancy of hospital beds will be included in level 2.
Section 144 will remain applicable in the districts that fall under level 2. Mumbai falls in level 2 of the unlock plan. Restaurants, gyms, salons, and beauty parlors will be permitted to operate at 50 percent occupancy. Local trains will not be permitted to operate for the general public.
Level 3
All districts where the Covid case positivity rate is 5-10 percent and the occupancy of hospital beds is lower than 40-60 percent fall under level 3.
Level 4
Areas having a positivity rate of 10-20 percent and 60-75 percent occupancy rate will come under level 4.
Level 5
Cities and districts that have a positivity rate of 20 percent and above and occupancy rate above 75 percent will fall under level 5. There would be no relaxation in such areas. An e-pass is required to travel to/from any city/district which comes under level 5.
Maharastra made the announcement a day after cabinet minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that restrictions would be lifted in 18 out of 36 districts in the state based on case positivity rate and hospital bed occupancy. Though, the state government issued a clarification a few hours later stating that no Covid restrictions have been lifted anywhere yet.
On Friday, Maharashtra reported 14,152 new Covid-19 cases and 289 deaths, taking the caseload to 58,05,565 and death toll to 98,771, the health department said. The state has, thus, reported fewer than 20,000 cases on the fifth consecutive day. Recoveries surpassed new infections, as 20,852 patients were discharged from hospitals, pushing the number of recovered cases to 55,07,058. The number of active cases fell below two lakh to stand at 1,96,894.
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