Gatherings of five or more will not be allowed in Maharashtra between 9 pm and 6 am, the state government announced on Friday, as coronavirus cases recorded their steepest rise in nearly two months amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
The new guidelines, which will come into effect from midnight - seven days before New Year's Eve, restrict attendance at indoor weddings to 100 people and not more than 250 people or 25 per cent whichever is less in outdoor weddings.
Indoor venues like gyms, spas, hotels, theatres and cinema halls will be allowed to run at 50 per cent capacity while sports events will be allowed to have 25 per cent occupancy, the rules said.
The restrictions were announced on a day when Mumbai reported 683 new COVID-19 cases, the highest since October 6, while Maharashtra added 1,410 new cases - the sharpest rise since October 27.
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 travellers came to Mumbai, including 23,933 from 'at-risk' countries.
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