Key Points:
- On Thursday, the Maharashtra government held a cabinet meeting and planned on imposing uniform restrictions throughout the state to curb the spread of the virus.
- Maharashtra reported multiple cases of the variant and Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that those patients are being isolated and are being asked for their travel details to trace down the source.
- Tope also said that Maharashtra saw its first death out of the 21 total cases due to the variant of SARS-CoV-2 which was an 80-year-old woman with co-morbidities.
India is at a potential threat from the newly discovered and an even more fatal version of the Coronavirus – The Delta Plus variant. And the state that tops the list of having the most number of Delta Plus detections is none other than Maharashtra.
Since the last week, multiple cases of the Delta Plus variant have been detected on various districts of Maharashtra. In accordance to that, on Thursday, the Maharashtra government held a cabinet meeting and it planned on imposing some uniform restrictions throughout the state to curb the spread of the virus.
The new Delta Plus Variant has been tagged by the Union government as a ‘Variant of Concern’.
On June 24, the state government was briefed about the new variant by the Health Ministry of the state and about the level of seriousness it may cause if spread.
Maharashtra reported multiple cases of the variant and Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that those patients are being isolated and are being asked for their travel details to trace down the source.
Tope also said that Maharashtra saw its first death out of the 21 total cases due to the variant of SARS-CoV-2 which was an 80-year-old woman with co-morbidities.
CM Uddhav Thackeray ordered officials to focus on districts that have high infection rate and also said that there shouldn’t be any rush in relaxing the Covid-19 norms.
On Friday, the state issued a list of restrictions for the Level 3 in order to control the spread of the virus plus the threat of the newly discovered Delta Plus variant.
Level 3 restrictions
- Essential shops and establishments – open till 4 pm on all days,
- Non-essential shops and establishments – open till 4 pm on weekdays,
- Restaurants – 50% capacity till 4 pm on weekdays and takeaways and home deliveries after that,
- Use of suburban trains will be only for medical staff and personnel engaged in essential services,
- Gyms and salons – open till 4 pm at 50% capacity.
The order also said that flying squads will enforce Covid-19-appropriate behaviour among people and impose fines for inappropriate behavior.
