The Maharashtra government on Sunday reversed its earlier decision to keep gyms, beauty salons and spas shut amid an ongoing Covid scare and instructed in its revised guidelines to allow these establishments to function at a 50% capacity.
The government in its statement said that beauty salons shall be grouped with hair-cutting salons and hence shall be permitted to function at a 50% capacity. It however stressed that under this revised guideline, only activities that do not require the removal of face masks shall be allowed. Only people fully vaccinated will be allowed to visit the salon and all the staff of the shall also be fully vaccinated, the order read.
A similar guideline was laid down by the government regarding the usage of gyms in the state. It said that all gyms will be allowed to work at 50% capacity provided everyone wears a mask while doing any activity. It also required the staff and the people availing the services of the gym to be fully vaccinated.
The Maharashtra government had on Saturday imposed fresh restrictions in the state where it had announced the closing of schools and colleges and banned the movement of people in groups of five or more, except for essential services.
The other restrictions imposed by the state government included a curfew prohibiting any movement from 11 pm to 5 am, except for essential purposes. Operation of shopping malls, market complexes at 50% capacity, limiting the number of guests at weddings to 50 and at funerals to 20 were some of the other restrictions imposed.
Schools, colleges will remain closed till February 15, except for activities required for 10th and 12th standard students. Public transport will remain open for fully vaccinated people while restaurants and eateries have been allowed to function at 50 percent capacity. However, the present number of visitors will be displayed on the notice board. They too can remain open only till 10 pm.
On Friday, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal said that there is no immediate need for imposing lockdown or additional restrictions in Mumbai as the bed occupancy rate, oxygen requirement, and a number of Covid-19 deaths are low.
Chahal said that during the first and second waves the decision to impose lockdown was taken on the basis of case positivity rate, but this criterion cannot be applied for the third wave which started on December 21, 2021.
Mumbai reported 20,318 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths on Saturday. The active cases as of Saturday evening are 1,06,037. The total number of asymptomatic patients was 82 percent and the bed occupancy stood at 21.4 percent on Saturday.
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