Following the Unlock 3.0 announcement by the Centre, the Maharashtra government has extended the lockdown till 31 August, but with an easing of restrictions.
The state government has decided to continue all precautions as announced earlier, but gradually restrictions are likely to be lifted during the month as part of the 'Mission Begin Again', an official announcement said late on Wednesday, 29 July.
A notification issued by Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar said the lockdown is necessary in the present circumstances with COVID-19 cases surging in the state.
As part of the Mission Begin Again initiative, while masks and social distancing continues to be mandatory, malls and market complexes without cinema halls, food courts and restaurants will be open from 9 am to 7 pm. All other shops like salons, which were earlier allowed, will continue to be operational during the stipulated time. All non-essential shops will be open only from 9 am to 7 pm.
The statement also mentioned that outdoor non-group sports like badminton, gymnastics, tennis, malkham will be allowed, but swimming pools will continue to be shut.
District administrations can take necessary stringent measures to impose restrictions based on the spread of the virus and the people’s movement in the area.
With 9,211 coronavirus cases detected on Wednesday, the total tally in the state has crossed the four lakh-mark. There are 4,00,651 cases in the state, with 2,39,755 recovered and 14,463 deaths reported so far.
As on 29 July, there were 1,46,129 active cases in the state and a total of 20,16,234 people had been tested.
Mumbai has been a hotspot of cases accounting for 1,11,991 cases in all and a death toll of 6,247.
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