Maharashtra may lift more restrictions if Covid-19 stays contained after Diwali

Maharashtra recorded 1,715 fresh Covid-19 infections on Sunday, pushing the overall count to 6,591,697. The number of active cases have further reduced with 2,680 recoveries reported in the past 24 hours

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday said the state may consider allowing people with single Covid-19 vaccine jabs to travel on local trains and enter malls if the Covid situation remains under control after Diwali.

New Covid-19 cases continue to decline in Maharashtra. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

“People who have taken a single jab are not allowed in malls and railways as of now, but if daily cases remain under control even after Diwali, we will consider giving more relaxations. This can be allowed depending on herd immunity and if their status is shown as safe in the Aarogya Setu mobile app,” Tope said.

He said such decision will be taken by the chief minister only if the state task force and health department gave their consent with the understanding that it will not pose any threat to people. “The relaxations need to be given because the gap between two doses of Covishield vaccine is 84 days and people have been facing a lot of inconvenience,” he said further.

Meanwhile, new Covid-19 cases continued to decline in Maharashtra. From October 4, schools in urban areas were reopened for offline learning for class 8 to 12 students. In rural areas, in person learning has resumed for students of class 5 to 7 . All religious places also reopened from October 7, while cinema halls, theatres and multiplexes are set to reopen from October 22.

Maharashtra recorded 1,715 fresh Covid-19 infections on Sunday, pushing the overall count to 6,591,697. The number of active cases have further reduced with 2,680 recoveries reported in the past 24 hours. On Saturday, the state had registered 1,553 cases, lowest since May last year.

The state also saw 29 Covid related casualties, taking the total number of fatalities recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic to 139,789. Solapur reported the highest death toll on Sunday with six deaths taking its overall Covid linked casualty figure to 4,061.

With 366 new cases, Mumbai reported the highest number of cases in the state on Sunday, taking its infection tally to 751,659. With 343 new Covid cases registered on Sunday, Pune was just behind Mumbai.

In the past 24 hours, the state tested 110,465 samples and had a positivity rate of 1.55%. However, the overall positivity rate of the state stood at 10.8%, according to the data issued by the state health department. The state also vaccinated 112,443 people on Sunday, taking the total number of administered vaccine doses to 91,429,117, according to the data on the Co-Win portal.