Complete weekend lockdown imposed in Maharshtra, Covid surge in the state leads to night curfew.

8.45 PM, 4th April.

• There will be night curfew imposed in the state. Nothing will be allowed from 8 PM to 7AM of next day except essential services.

• Employees of private offices should work from home only.

On Sunday while talking to the press after the urgent meeting of ministers NCP minister Nawab Malik said , because of increasing numbers of Covid patients in the state the government has decided to impose lockdown on weekends along with the continuation of night curfew from 8 PM to 7 AM. The weekend lockdown will start from 8PM of friday and will end at 7 AM on monday. He also said all the essential services and public transport facilities like railway, buses, taxis will be allowed to carry out their operations.

Stricter rules have been announced by the government for curbing the spread of Covid-19. During the night curfew not more than five people can gather at the same place. People who will break the rules will be fined Rs. 500 according to government officials.

Earlier chief minister Uddhav Thackeray have instructed the officials to impose night curfew all over the state from Sunday which was on March 28.Today Malik informed that there will be continuation of night curfew in the state and also all the prohibitory rules under section 144 will be imposed during the day time on the weekends in the month of April. According to the news agency ANI another minister of Maharashtra Aslam Shaikh spoke to the press saying that, “there could be lock down like situation in the weekends. You cant visit public places like Gardens, beaches, Gate way of India on saturday and sunday in April.”All the hotels, malls, restaurants, gardens, theatres will remain closed till 30th April. Hotels are allowed for home deliveries and giving takeaway orders. All the essential services will remain open.Private offices are instructed to work from home however the detailed SOP will be released soon said Aslam Shaikh. Salons, beauty parlours will also remain closed. These decisions came after the virtual meeting of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and the cabinet on Sunday. The Covid-19 situation was also discussed between the authorities and the ministers in this meeting.All the transportation will be permitted to carry out their operations according to their seating capacity. Rikshaw, Taxis and all Private vehicles will be allowed with 50% capacity according to officials. All the industrial work and services under essential tag will be allowed to function with a state given SOP and all construction sites where there is accommodation of the workers will allowed to carry out the construction work. Movie theatres, drama theatres will be closed. Shooting activities will be allowed only if there is no crowding of people on the location. Parks and playgrounds will be closed, Malik added. All the temples and religious places will be closed but the rituals will be allowed with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a meeting of high-level officials on Sunday for reviewing the current situation of Covid-19 and vaccination programme in the country. Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that a team of medical officials and experts will be sent to Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhatisgarh to look into the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in those states. There has been a consistent rise in infection and deaths among these states, said the office.Few days before Chief Minister of Maharashtra had warned the state residents about the possibility of a second lockdown to curb the Covid surge. Uddhav Thackeray also warned the residents about the shortage of oxygen in the state he also said there is a possibility of diverting the oxygen supply of industries towards the medical facilities to save the people’s lives. India on Sunday recorded 93,249 new cases, recording the highest single day rise so far this year. India have total of 1,24,85,509 Covid cases till date according to the Union health ministry data.