COVID-19: Confirmed cases in Maharashtra rise to 63, class 10 state board exams postponed

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday announced that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state had increased to 63. He revealed that the 11 new cases were from Mumbai and Pune. Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has permitted hotels to function on the conditions of 50% occupancy and a distance of three feet to be maintained between two customers. In another major announcement, the state government has decided to postpone the Class 10 state board exams scheduled for March 23.

A call on the new exam date will be taken after March 31. Moreover, the Mumbai Metro (Ghatkopar-Versova) services will not be operational on March 22 on account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Janta Curfew initiative. On the other hand, Central Railway will run approximately 60% of the regular services instead of the scheduled mega block on Sunday.  

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Efforts to combat the novel coronavirus

The Maharashtra government has taken a number of steps to deal with the novel Coronavirus pandemic. On March 13, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray declared COVID-19 as an epidemic by invoking the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act. Moreover, he stated that gyms, swimming schools and theatres in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchwad would be closed till March 30. A day later, the government confirmed that all schools and colleges in urban areas besides malls will be shut till March 31.  

On Friday, Uddhav Thackeray declared the closure of all workplaces from the midnight of March 20 until March 31 amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. This would be applicable in Mumbai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, and Nagpur. The government offices will operate at 25% attendance. As per the amended BMC order, port, electricity, petroleum, oil, energy, media, IT services provided to any of the essential services and production processes which require continuity of process have been added to the list of establishments that are exempted from the 50% work from home rule in Mumbai.

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