By PTI
MUMBAI: Amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Maharashtra government on Friday prohibited gathering of more than five persons in public places between 9 pm to 6 am.
The new guidelines, issued ahead of Christmas, will come into force from midnight, an official release said late Friday evening.
The state recorded 1,410 new coronavirus cases and 20 Omicron infections during the day.
The daily COVID-19 cases went up by more than 200 compared to Thursday.
Further, more than 100 people can not attend weddings in closed places, while in open spaces the number will not be more than 250 or 25 percent of the total capacity, whichever is less.
This restriction will also apply to social, political or religious functions, the release said.
At functions other than social, political or religious ones, the number of attendees in closed spaces should not exceed 50 per cent of the total capacity where seats are fixed and immovable.
The number of attendees shall not exceed 25 per cent of the capacity where seats are not fixed.
At sports event, number of people can not exceed 25 per cent of the venue’s capacity.
Restaurants, gymnasiums, cinema halls, spas will continue to operate with 50 percent capacity, the guidelines said.
The tally of Omicron infections reported in Maharashtra rose to 108 on Friday with 20 cases of the new coronavirus variant coming to light, officials said.
As many as 54 of 108 patients have been already discharged.
Eleven new cases were reported from Mumbai, six from Pune, two from Satara and one from Ahmednagar.
Of these new patients, 15 have history of international travel, one patient has history of domestic travel while four others had come in close contact with them.
One patient is a minor while six patients are above 60 years of age.
All new patients are asymptomatic.
The statement further said that 12 of these patients were fully vaccinated, seven unvaccinated and one was not eligible for vaccination (being below 18).
Reports of 14 cases came from the National Institute of Virology and the remaining from the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune.
Mumbai has recorded 46 Omicron cases so far, including those found following screening at the Mumbai International Airport.
Pimpri-Chinchwad township has reported 19 cases, Pune rural area 15 and Pune city seven.
Since December 1, 2021, as many as 1,63,553 international travelers came to Mumbai, including 23,933 from `at-risk’ countries.
