Mumbai’s Back: Here’s What’s Opening (Yes, Beaches!) – NDTV

Mumbai:

The Maharashtra government today eased several curbs and called off the 11 pm to 5 am night curfew in view of declining cases of Covid-19. Restaurants, theatres, swimming pools and water parks can now remain open with a 50 per cent capacity. Beaches, gardens and parks will go back to opening as per normal timing before the pandemic started.

Amusement and theme parks can also be operational with half their capacity. Weddings are now allowed guests up to 25 per cent of the capacity in open grounds and banquet halls, or 200 guests, whichever is lower. 

Bhajans and all other local, cultural and folk entertainment programs will be allowed with half the capacity of the venue. 

For competitive sports and other such activities like horse racing, 25 per cent of the seating capacity of guests will be allowed. “Standing and movable crowds must be avoided,” the order said.

Local tourist spots and weekly markets will remain open as per normal timings.

Mumbai today recorded 803 fresh cases, a drop of 16 per cent as compared to the previous period (960). Fresh cases have seen a nearly 96 per cent fall since the peak of this wave. The daily positivity rate has dropped to 1.55 per cent from 2.1 yesterday and is much lower than the 30 per cent recorded during the current peak.

The number of active cases in the city is now 8,888. Seven people have died due to the viral disease in the last 24 hours. 

The state government had late last night issued fresh guidelines to ease Covid curbs in 11 districts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai.

It relaxed the curbs in 11 districts of the state where over 90 per cent of the eligible people have received the first dose of vaccine against Covid and 70 per cent have received both doses.

These 11 districts are Mumbai, Pune, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Gondia, Kolhapur and Chandrapur.

On Monday, Maharashtra reported 15,140 new coronavirus cases, 7,304 less than the day before, and 39 fatalities due to the infection, according to the state health department.