Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced that the state government won’t impose another lockdown but fresh restrictions will come into effect from 8 pm on Wednesday.
Appealing people to follow appropriate COVID behaviour, Thackeray said that the situation in Maharashtra is “worrying” as the state has been reporting more than 50,000 cases for the past few days.
From tomorrow, Section 144, a rule that prohibits groups of more than four people, will be in place across Maharashtra and only essential travel and services will be allowed, said Mr Thackeray, urging people to move to work-from-home and observe a “Janata Curfew” voluntarily.
From 7 am to 8 pm only essential services will function, related to health care, banks, media, e-Commerce and fuel.
Shopping centres, malls, film shoots, beaches will be shut. Curbs will remain for hotels and restaurants though home delivery and takeaways will be allowed.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh had said that the state government will likely announce the fresh guidelines to check the spread of the infection on Tuesday.
The state has been reporting more than 50,000 coronavirus cases for the past week, prompting the state government to impose restrictions.
Surjitt Sahani
