Maharashtra govt revises COVID norms; beauty salons, gyms to function at 50 pc capacity from Jan 10

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 9 (ANI): The Maharashtra government on Sunday revised its COVID-19 restrictions allowing beauty salons and gyms to function at 50 per cent capacity with the services being open to only fully vaccinated people.
The state government made a partial modification to its last order issued on January 8, which is scheduled to come into force from Monday. In its last order, the Maharashtra government had said that beauty salons and gyms in the state will remain completely shut.
However, in its latest order, the government said: "Beauty salons shall be grouped with hair cutting salons and shall be allowed to remain open with 50 per cent capacity subject to restrictions mentioned in the table for hair cutting salons."
In the last order, the government had allowed hair cutting salons to operate at 50 per cent capacity adding that these salons will remain closed from 10 pm to 7 am every day.
The new order also states that in beauty salons, only those activities that do not require the removal of masks by anyone shall be allowed. "Only fully vaccinated persons shall be allowed to use these services. All the staff engaged in operation shall be fully vaccinated," it read.
"Gyms are allowed to remain open with 50 per cent capacity, subject to the use of masks while performing any activity. Only fully vaccinated persons shall be allowed to use these services. All the staff engaged in operation shall be fully vaccinated," the government has said.
In view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the state, the Maharashtra government has imposed a night curfew between 11 pm to 5 am starting Monday among other restrictions to curb the transmission of the virus.
Swimming pools, spas, zoos, museums, and entertainment parks will remain closed until further orders. Schools, colleges and coaching institutes will remain closed till February 15, with few exceptions in the state.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Saturday reported 41,434 new COVID-19 cases, 9,671 recoveries, and 13 deaths. The active cases in the state stood at 1,73,238. Notably, Maharashtra has the highest number of active cases in India.
Maharashtra has reported 1,009 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 so far, as per the state health bulletin on Saturday. (ANI)