Maharashtra COVID-19 unlock: Cinemas, theaters to reopen from October 22, check SOPs here

The ease in COVID-19 curbs comes amid the Maharashtra government earlier permitting the reopening of schools and religious places.

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New Delhi: The Maharashtra government on Saturday (September 25), announcing further relaxations in the COVID-19 curbs, said that cinemas and theaters will be allowed to reopen from October 22. 

The ease in curbs comes amid the state government earlier permitting the reopening of schools and religious places. On Friday, the office of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that all the religious places in Maharashtra will reopen for the general public from October 7.

Cinemas, theaters in Maharashtra to reopen from October 22, in compliance with health norms: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's Secretariat pic.twitter.com/6PRXvci1GI — ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2021

The decision was taken after CM Uddhav Thackeray's meeting with the task force. “All religious places will be opened from October 7 in the state. The Maharashtra government has prepared itself for a third wave, but with all precautions, the state is allowing relaxations in various activities,” the Maharashtra CM said. 

Further, he added, “But gradually we have been taking care of everything and relaxing the restrictions in many cases. Although the number of Coronavirus patients is currently declining, we need to be more careful. Even if religious places are open to the devotees, the guidelines of COVID-19 must be followed." 

It is to be noted that the places of worship will open only outside of the containment zones and will function as per the timings decided by the trust/board/authority of the respective place. As per the SOPs, the use of face masks, social distancing and the provision of thermal scanning, hand wash, and hand sanitisers has been made compulsory. The guidelines also recommend persons above 65 years of age, persons with comorbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years to stay home.

Thackeray also allowed schools to resume physical classes from October 4. In rural areas, schools for classes 5th to 12th will resume while in urban areas classes 8th to 12th will start, education minister Varsha Gaikwad said. 

Maharashtra logged 3,286 new coronavirus cases and 51 deaths which pushed the caseload to 65,37,843 and death toll to 1,38,776, a health department official said on Friday. The state currently has 39,491 active coronavirus cases.

(With agency inputs)