MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Monday decided to allow those below 18 years of age who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 to visit shopping malls upon displaying the valid age proof.
The state government has already allowed people who are fully vaccinated to visit shopping malls which can remain open till 10 pm on all days.
A government order (GO) issued on Monday under "break the chain" guidelines said since vaccination for the population below the age of 18 has not yet started, they need to show documents of their age proof like the Aadhaar card, PAN card issued by the Income Tax department, valid school or college identity card with mention of the date of birth at the entry point of malls.
All shopping malls are allowed to function till 10 pm on all days provided the customers/citizens visiting the malls and all employees, including managers and housekeeping staff, possess the final vaccination certificate of receiving two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and that 14 days must have elapsed after the second dose, the GO said.
All customers need to show their final vaccination certificate with a photo identity proof at the entry point of malls, it said.
Further relaxing the COVID-19 curbs, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to allow malls, restaurants, spas and gymnasiums to remain open till 10 pm with a 50 per cent capacity on the condition that the entire staff at these establishments has taken both doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Shops were also allowed to operate till 10 pm.
Meanwhile, ten more cases of the Delta plus variant of coronavirus, considered highly infectious, have been detected in Maharashtra, taking their overall tally to 76, the state health department said on Monday.
Five patients infected with the variant have died so far in the state.
The health department, in a statement here said, six of the 10 new cases of the Delta plus variant were found in Kolhapur, followed by three in Ratnagiri and one in Sindhudurg.
All the 10 patients have completely recovered, it said.
According to the statement, so far the highest patients of Delta plus - at 15 - have been found in Ratnagiri district followed by Jalgaon, Mumbai and Kolhapur districts at 13, 11 and seven cases, respectively.
Thane and Pune districts have recorded six cases each, Palghar and Raigad districts three each, Nanded, Gondia and Sindhudurg two each and Chandrapur, Akola, Sangli, Nandurbar, Aurangabad and Beed has one case each.
Of the 76 patients of the Delta plus variant, five - two from Ratnagiri and one each from Mumbai, Beed and Raigad - have died, according to the statement.
The deceased - three females and two males - were above the age of 65 years and suffering from high-risk illnesses, it said.
The department stated, "80 per cent of the samples sent for genome sequencing had tested positive for the Delta plus variant (of coronavirus)."
Of the 76 patients, 39 were in the 19 to 45 age group, 19 in the 46 to 60 age bracket, nine were over 60 years and another nine were under 18, according to the statement.
Of the total patients - 39 females and 37 males - 10 had taken both the doses of coronavirus vaccines, while 12 others had received only the first shot, according to the department.
Of the vaccinate patients, two had taken Covaxin and the remaining Covishield, it said.
Of the total Delta plus patients, 71 have already recovered and 37 of them were without any symptoms or showed mild symptoms, the statement said.
The state reported 4,145 new coronavirus cases and 100 fresh fatalities on Monday, taking the infection tally to 63,96,805 and the death toll to 1,35,139, a state health department official said.
Notably, Nandurbar district in North Maharashtra does not have a single active case of coronavirus currently, making it free of the infection for now.
The official said 5,811 patients were discharged from hospitals across the state in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative number of recovered cases to 61,95,744.
Maharashtra now has 62,452 active cases.
The state has 3,53,129 people in home quarantine and 2,530 in institutional quarantine, according to the official.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate now stands at 96.86 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.11 per cent, he said.
The cumulative number of tests conducted in the state climbed to 5,11,11,895, of which 1,52,165 tests were done in the last 24 hours, the official said.
Notably, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalna, Parbhani, Akola and Wardha districts and Dhule, Jalgaon, Bhiwandi Nizampur, Parbhani, Nanded, Amaravati, and Chandrapur municipal corporations did not report any new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, he said.
The official said Ahmednagar district reported the highest new infections at 660 followed by Solapur at 584, while Aurangabad topped the list of fatalities with 36 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Pune region reported the highest new cases at 1,799 followed by 600 cases in the Kolhapur region.
Among the other regions, Nashik reported 769 cases, Mumbai 465, Latur 169, Akola 21, while Aurangabad and Nagpur regions registered 11 infections each, the official said.
Out of the 100 fatalities, the highest 46 were reported from the Aurangabad region, followed by 19 from the Kolhapur region, he said.
Significantly, Akola and Nagpur regions did not report any fresh fatality, while the Pune region registered 17 fatalities, Mumbai 11, Nashik five and the Latur region two.
The official said Mumbai witnessed 195 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths, while Pune city reported 148 infections, but no fresh death.
Among the 62,452 active cases in the state, Pune district has the highest at 14,610, he said.
The official said among the 61,95,744 recovered patients across the state, the highest - 10,71,040 - were from Pune district.
Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 63,96,805; new cases 4,145; total deaths 1,35,139; total recoveries 61,95,744; active cases 62,452; total tests 5,11,11,895.