COVID-19: Maharashtra Government announces weekend lockdown, night curfew

The Government of Maharashtra, in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the state, has announced stricter rules from April 5, 2021, to break the chain of infections.

From April 5 night curfew has been imposed in the whole state from 8 PM to 7 AM. The state government has also imposed Section 144 in the daytime and more than 5 people are not allowed to gather.

According to the official notifications, the new rules will last till April 30, 2021, as the fresh COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra topped 57,000.

Guidelines for containment of COVID-19 #BreakTheChain pic.twitter.com/BLnOTaExc5

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) April 4, 2021

New guidelines by Maharashtra Government:

• On the weekend in Maharashtra, no one will be allowed in public places without valid reasons.

• All the private offices will have to opt to work from home, while the government departments, financial and banking sectors will have to continue to operate at 50% staff capacity.

• The health department will continue to work at full capacity and the visitors at government offices will also be restricted.

• All the religious places, amusement parks, parlors, saloons, indoor game facilities, gyms will remain closed.

• All the cultural, political, and social gatherings will remain banned and the theatres and cinema halls will also remain shut.

• The open spaces and gardens will remain open from 7 AM to 8 PM and people will have to strictly follow COVID appropriate behaviour.

• Housing societies in the state that have more than 5 active cases will be declared as containment zones and any form of violation of rules will attract a fine of Rs. 10,000.

• Marriage functions will not be permitted to have 50 guests while only 20 people will be allowed to attend the funerals.

• Television and film shootings will continue. But the production houses will need to ensure appropriate measures and vaccination with respect to their staff.

Essential Services to continue:

Home deliveries will be permitted while essential services will continue unhindered. Everything, except essential services, will be closed on weekends.

The regulations by the state government make it compulsory for the staff of the essential good shops and services and shopkeepers to complete the COVID-19 vaccination at the earliest. They must also see that the COVID rules are followed by themselves as well as by the customers.

Restaurants, malls, bars only allowed for takeaways:

As the state government announced the fresh regulations to control the rising cases of COVID-19 by imposing the weekend lockdown and night curfew, it has also announced that the restaurants, malls, and bars in Maharashtra will only be allowed to operate for parcels and takeaways.

While reacting to the move, the restaurant owners have stated that it will have a devastating effect on the industry that has already seen a severe lump in 2020.

No curbs on construction activity and industrial operations:

To keep the economy spinning, no regulations have been imposed on construction activity and industrial operations. Agriculture activities, agricultural commodities, transportation of food grains will continue as usual.