Maharashtra announces five-level unlock plan, process to begin from Monday

A pedestrian walks past a wall mural on Covid-19 awareness outside a railway station in Mumbai. Pic/AFP

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's office, late on Friday, announced a detailed five-level unlock plan for the state based on positivity rate and occupancy of oxygenated beds in each district and cities with corporations. The plan will come into effect from June 7.

As per the plan, districts and cities falling in ‘Level 1' will have the least restrictions, while those in ‘Level 5' will have stringent near lockdown-like restrictions.

The decision comes after detailed deliberations of over a week by the state Disaster Management Unit with all other concerned departments and stakeholders.

Suburban local trains will not be thrown open for the general public in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad.

Also Read: Number of fresh Covid-19 cases in Mumbai steady again

Levels defined by state govt

• ‘Level 1' areas are defined with positivity rate of less than 5 per cent and occupancy of oxygenated beds should be below 25 per cent.
• ‘Level 2' will include areas with a positivity rate below 5 per cent and oxygenated bed occupancy between 25 per cent and 40 per cent.
• ‘Level 3' will include area with a positivity rate between 5 per cent and 10 per cent or oxygenated bed occupancy of more than 40 per cent.
• ‘Level 4' areas are defined with positivity rate between 10 per cent and 20 per cent or oxygen bed occupancy of more than 60 per cent.
• ‘Level 5', the strictest level, areas will be required to have a positivity rate of more than 20 per cent or occupancy of oxygen beds should be more than 75 per cent.

Activities allowed in various levels

Establishments dealing with essential services

All the shops and establishments will be allowed to function as usual in Level 1 and 2 while they will have to shutter down after 4 pm in Level 3 and 4 areas on all days. In Level 5, the establishments will stay open till 4 pm on weekdays and stay shut on weekends.

Non-essential items

The establishments will function as usual in Level 1 and 2, and stay shut after 4 pm in Level 3. They will not be allowed to open at all in Level 5.

Malls, theatres and multiplexes

These establishments can resume normal operations in Level 1 while they will have to function with 50 per cent capacity in Level 2. They will stay closed in Level 3, 4 and 5.

Restaurants

In Level 1, restaurants can function as usual, while in Level 2, they will have to run with only 50 per cent capacity. For Level 3, they can have a 50 per cent capacity till 4 pm and will only be allowed takeaway and parcel services after that and on weekends. People in Level 4 areas will not be allowed to dine in but only parcel and takeaway services. In Level 5, only home delivery is allowed. People cannot visit restaurants.

Marriage functions

There are no restrictions on functions in Level 1 areas. In Level 2, a marriage ceremony can take place with 50 per cent of hall capacity and a maximum of 100 people. The number has been restricted to 50 in Level 3 and 25 in Level 4. Only family members are allowed to be present for functions in Level 5 areas.

Mumbai falls under Level 3, Thane under Level 1

As per the data released by the public health department, Level 1 districts currently are Aurangabad, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Jalgaon, Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Parbhani, Thane, Washim, Wardha, and Yavatmal.

Level 2 will have Ahmednagar, Amravati, Hingoli, and Dhule. Level 3 will have Mumbai, Akola, Beed, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Osmanabad, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg, and Solapur districts.

Cities like Mumbai and its satellite towns, along with Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Aurangabad, Solapur, and Nagpur will be treated as administrative units. Officials said that 34 districts, apart from Mumbai and its suburbs, will be treated as administrative units.

According to the notification, the situation will be assessed every Thursday by the public health department, which will declare the occupancy of oxygenated beds and positivity rate of the state and every district.

Maharashtra's Covid-19 daily deaths and new infections continued to fall but the day's toll increased by 1,377, which took the total zooming past the 98,000 mark, on Friday.

Compared to 553 deaths on Thursday, the state declared 1,377 fatalities (289 fresh, and 1,088 previous deaths), surpassing the previous peak of 1,320 deaths on May 23, to take the toll to 98,771.

The number of fresh cases fell from 15,229 on Thursday to 14,152, and the state tally rose above the 58 lakh level, to 58,05,565.

In Mumbai, the new infections remained below the 1,000 level for the fourth day running, dropping from 985 on Thursday to 968, while the city tally rose to 708,994.