Gyms, fitness centres in Maharashtra to reopen from Dussehra amid strict COVID-19 measures

Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Saturday (October 17, 2020) announced to reopen gyms and fitness centres across the state from Dussehra, which will be celebrated on October 25. 

"CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray held a meeting with representatives from gyms and fitness centres today. Adhering to all the measures to prevent COVID-19 and strict compliance of the SOPs, gyms and fitness centres across the state will be allowed to reopen from Dussehra," said Office of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

As per reports, the gym equipment needs to be sanitised every hour and the gym premises need to be sanitised before closing for the day.

Proper social distancing and COVID-19 norms have to be strictly followed. 

This is to be noted that Zumba, steam bath, saunas and yoga have not been allowed yet.

Earlier on October 14, the state government allowed metro train services to restart from October 15 and the opening hours of the shops were also increased by two hours, ie, the shops now function from 9 AM to 9 PM.

Business to Business (B2B) exhibitions were also allowed to open outside COVID-19 containment zones and the local weekly markets, including that of animals, also started functioning from Thursday.

Hotels, restaurants and bars are already functioning since the first week of the month with restricted capacity. These were allowed with the capacity not exceeding 50 per cent or as prescribed by local authorities.

Meanwhile, the PTI news agency said that metro train services in Mumbai will be only half of the pre-COVID levels and will operate at a third of the passenger capacity once the services restart next week.

"The time duration of the operations for the single 11-km line between Ghatkopar to Versova has also been curtailed to 12 hours starting from 0830 hrs daily," PTI quoted Mumbai Metro One's chief executive Abhau Kumar Mishra as saying.

He added that the cut in services, passengers and operational timing is to ensure passenger safety through proper social distancing which needs to be followed.

Notably, only 200 services of trains will run with services in either direction in up to 8 minutes as against 5 minutes and 400 services earlier. Reports say that as against 1,350 people per service earlier, now the train will carry only 360 people.

Earlier in the day, the state reported 10,259 new COVID-19 cases and 14,238 recoveries. So far, a total of 13,58,606 patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals, but, the State still has 1,85,270 active patients.