Uddhav Thackeray, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has opted against implementing a statewide lockdown. However, due to an increase in coronavirus cases, a weekend lockdown has been imposed. Meanwhile, there will be a night curfew and other restrictions. On Saturdays and Sundays, only basic services will be permitted. Restaurants will be allowed to work exclusively for take-out and package services in the meantime. Employees in the office would have to work at home. On Sunday, an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Uddhav made a number of key decisions.
The laws, which take effect tomorrow, include a curfew from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., a ban on meetings of five or more during the day, the closing of stores, restaurants, pubs, and places of worship, and the allowance of home delivery and critical services.
Industrial and development works will be approved. Vegetable markets will be subjected to new regulations aimed at reducing overcrowding.
Filming will be permitted without queues, but cinemas will be closed.
On weekends, all will be closed except for emergency services.
There will be no additional road limits, but public transportation will operate at 50% speed.
The decisions were taken after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called a cabinet meeting to address the situation on Sunday, two days after he said a second lockdown to tackle the state’s coronavirus outbreak could not be ruled out.
On Saturday, Maharashtra registered approximately 50,000 new cases, accounting for roughly 60% of all cases reported across the country. The state registered about 48,000 cases on Friday.
On Sunday, the state capital Mumbai reported over 11,000 cases, the largest number in a single day since the pandemic started in December. Over 9,000 new cases were registered in the city on Saturday.
Pune, one of the state’s largest cities, has also registered troubling statistics; on Friday, the district administration enforced a 12-hour night curfew and ordered the closure of shopping malls, religious sites, hotels, and bars, as well as public buses, for a week.
