Maharashtra Lockdown News Today: Looking at the positivity rate, the Maharashtra government on Friday decided to continue the lockdown restrictions in Pune and other districts. Giving further details, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said Pune and other districts such as Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Pune, Raigad and Ahmednagar will not witness immediate relaxation of coronavirus restrictions as the positivity rate in these areas has not declined much. However, the shops in Pune will be allowed to operate till only 4 PM.
Pawar, who is the guardian minister for Pune, said the state government has decided to continue the level three restrictions in these districts. Earlier, the state had devised five levels of restrictions, the fifth level being the harshest, depending on the severity of the pandemic in a given area.
“In some districts the positivity rate has come down to zero per cent, however, in some districts such as Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Pune, Raigad and Ahmednagar, the positivity rate has not declined as much as it should have, so the current restrictions will remain in force,” he said.
Talking about demand from various sectors for relaxation, Pawar said the positivity rate must go down further.
“The positivity rate has come down (to around five per cent) but the graph has stagnated at one point. According to experts, it should go down further, the way it has declined in some areas to zero. If that happens, we will offer more relaxation,” said Pawar.
Prohibitory orders: In the meantime, prohibitory orders have been imposed in several tourist spots in Pune district in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. These spots include Bhushi dam, various points in Lonavala and Khandala, Sinhgad Fort, Panshet, Varasgaon dam among others.
The order issued by Collector Rajesh Deshmukh stated that people come in large numbers to picnic and tourists spots located in Maval, Mulshi, Haveli, Ambegaon, Junnar, Bhor, and Velha tehsils, leading to mask and social distancing norm violations.
Restrictions in Pune reimposed: On June 30, as the Maharashtra government sounded an alert over the Delta Plus strain of Covid-19 and urged all districts not to relax lockdown norms, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) re-imposed the curfew in the city from 5 PM and issued directions to stall all permitted activities by 4 PM from Monday.
Issuing an order, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said that the lockdown norms have been issued based on the average positivity rate and percentage of occupancy of oxygen beds and the prohibitory orders will be in place to prevent more than five people from coming together till 5 PM.
Corona cases: Maharashtra on Friday recorded 7,761 new COVID-19 cases and 167 deaths which took the state’s infection tally to 61,97,018 and the death toll to 1,26,727. There are 5,85,967 people in home quarantine while 4,576 people are in institutional quarantine.
Mumbai city reported 443 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, taking the caseload to 7,30,234 and the death toll to 15,678.
Nashik division reported 709 cases and 20 deaths, while the Pune division added 2,287 cases and 51 deaths. Out of 51 deaths, 18 were reported from Pune City and 14 from Satara district.
Kolhapur division added 2,818 cases and 40 deaths. As many as 1,085 new infections were reported in the rural parts of Kolhapur district alone. Aurangabad division reported 96 cases and 10 deaths, while Latur division recorded 251 cases and five deaths.