Pune's COVID restrictions relaxed: Malls, shops open till 8 PM, restaurants till 10 PM

As Mumbai opens up, Pune too has eased its restrictions amid protests by locals and BJP. The guidelines released on Sunday, allowed all shops (essential and otherwise) to be open for all seven days till 8 PM. Moreover, malls too were allowed to function till 8 PM, but entry was limited only to fully vaccinated people. Maharashtra has 74,482 active COVID cases, 61,39,493 recovered cases and 1,33,845 fatalities.

Pune's new COVID guidelines

As per the guidelines, restaurants have been allowed to function till 10 PM, while gardens and parks have been allowed to function between 6-10 AM and 4-7 PM. All sports (other than swimming & contact sports ) are now allowed. Locals had protested against the strict Level 3 restrictions Pune had to follow despite consistently recording a positivity rate of below 5%.

On Saturday, ex-CM  Devendra Fadnavis urged the state government to ease COVID-19 restrictions in Pune as business and commerce are being severely affected in the city. There should be strict restrictions in the city where the infection positivity rate is above 5 percent. But for the last one month, Pune's positivity rate is below 5 percent. The state government should relax restrictions. Businesses are already suffering losses," said Fadnavis. Meanwhile, Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol has accused the Maharashtra Vikas Aghad (MVA) government of favouring Mumbai over his city. 

Maharashtra's new COVID-19 guidelines

Maharashtra, which has the highest number of COVID cases, eased its restrictions in the state allowing Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, and Thane to tweak them further. As per the new guidelines, all shops and malls can remain open till 8 pm on weekdays and till 3 pm on Saturday while all restaurants can remain open till 4 PM with 50% capacity. All government and private offices can be operational with full capacity. Gyms, yoga centres, spas, beauty parlours and hair cutting salons can remain open till 8 PM, while cinema halls, drama theatres and multiplexes, places of worship remain shut. Restrictions on birthday celebrations, political and cultural events, election campaigning and protest matches will continue. Restrictions on  on the movement of people from 9 pm to 5 am to continue.