Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in
Lockdown in Maharashtra will be relaxed in a five-level unlock plan based on positivity rates and occupancy of oxygenated beds in every district, announced the state government on June 4, 2021. Based on these elements, half of the state will have minimum restrictions from June 7.
As per the plan, the state’s districts will be divided into five levels with Level 1 having the least restrictions and Level 5 requiring a pass for inter-state travel on top of several other preventive measures. Local authorities are to issue due guidelines in their areas.
During an earlier press conference, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar divided the state into 43 regions for this reason. He explained that districts that enjoy less than five percent positivity rate and below 25 percent oxygen bed occupancy will be allowed to unlock at Level 1 fully with no restrictions. All restaurants, malls, salons, movie theatres, shops can open in these areas. Public transport will function regularly.
Meanwhile, districts with less than five percent positivity rate and 25-40 percent oxygen beds occupancy will come under Level 2. At this level, shops can reopen but malls, gymnasiums and other public areas will operate at 50 percent capacity. Buses and other transport will function at 100 percent capacity without standing passengers.
Similarly, districts with 5 to 10 percent positivity rate and more than 40 per cent oxygen bed occupancy will come under Level 3. In these regions, shops, salons, will be open till 2 PM and standing passengers will not be allowed in buses. It may be mentioned that accessibility of trains will be affected by the weekly positivity rate.
Districts with 10-20 percent positivity rate and more than 60 percent occupancy rate areas will be Level 4 and those with a 20 percent positivity rate and more and occupancy rate above over 75 percent will be Level 5 with all restrictions in place. The last two levels will have public transport working at 50 percent capacity.
Every Thursday the state public health department will declare the occupancy of oxygenated beds and positivity rate of every district. As for inter-district travel, there will be restrictions at Level 2 and 3 while Level 5 will require a travel pass.
Districts under different categories as of June 3 are:
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 |
Aurangabad, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Jalgaon, Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Parbhani, Thane, Washim, Wardha, Yavatmal | Ahmednagar, Amravati, Hingoli, Mumbai, Nandurbar | Akola, Beed, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Osmanabad, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg, Solapur | Pune, Raigad | All other districts. These will be marked as red zones. |
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