Maharashtra Lockdown Latest News Today: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday made a big announcement and said that the state government is planning more relaxations in the days to come for the hotels and restaurants. He also added that the relaxations will be announced for Mumbai Local Trains as well. However, he added that the steps will be taken with utmost caution.
Speaking at a function organised by the BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) undertaking to induct more electric buses into its fleet, the chief minister said he met with the representatives of hotels and restaurants, who demanded further relaxations in timings beyond 4 pm, and explained to them that the curbs will be eased step by step.
“The Maharashtra government is going to grant more relaxations, but we are taking every step cautiously. A decision will be taken for local train passengers as well. We need to ensure that these relaxations do not trigger another wave of COVID-19,” Thackeray said.
Earlier this week, the state government had announced relaxations in 25 districts, which have reported a low COVID-19 positivity rate, by allowing all shops to remain open till 8 PM. Apart from this, the state government also allowed the resumption of schools for certain classes in urban and rural areas from August 17 onwards.
It must be noted that the Mumbai Local Trains are not operational for all now. However, only people involved in essential activities are allowed to travel in Mumbai Local Trains. As the COVID cases have gone down, many people including the political leaders demanding that common people, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, be allowed to board the local trains.
Maharashtra on Friday reported 5,539 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 187 deaths, which took its tally of infections to 63,41,759 and the toll to 1,33,717. The state is now left with 74,483 active cases.
Among other regions, the Mumbai region reported 769 cases, Nashik 787, Latur 292, Aurangabad 61, Akola 42 and the Nagpur region 21. Among the 187 fatalities, the highest deaths at 71 were reported from the Aurangabad region, followed by 56 from the Pune region and 30 from the Kolhapur region. The Mumbai region reported 11 fatalities, Nashik 13, Latur five while the Akola region reported one death. The Nagpur region did not report any fresh fatality.