MUMBAI: Amid the Omicron scare, the Mumbai police has said prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 will be imposed in the city from December 16 to December 31, a period covering Christmas and New Year eve, banning large gatherings as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
They also said only people up to 50 per cent of the capacity at a venue will be allowed to attend any event and organizers of programmes should be fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
An order imposing section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) within the Mumbai commissionerate limits from Thursday was issued by the deputy commissioner of police (operations) on Monday.
The section prohibits the gathering of five or more persons at one spot and holding of public meetings, among other things.
According to the order, people have to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour to stem the coronavirus spread.
"All persons connected with organisation of any programme, event etc as well as service providers and participants, visitors, guests, customers shall be fully vaccinated," it said.
Any shop, establishment, mall, event and gathering must be manned by fully vaccinated persons and all visitors and customers at such places shall be fully inoculated against coronavirus, the order stated.
All public transport shall be used only by fully vaccinated persons, it said, adding all persons travelling into Maharashtra shall be either fully vaccinated or carry a RT-PCR test valid for 72 hours.
"People up to 50 per cent of the capacity will be allowed to attend in case of any programme or event or activity or gathering, which is in closed or open space," the order stated.
If the number of people present at such events exceeds thousand, then the local disaster management authority will have to be informed about the same, it said.
"The order shall came into force in the areas under the control of commissioner of police, Mumbai, with immediate effect from December 16, 2021, and will remain in force till 24.00 hrs of December 31," it stated.
Mumbai on Wednesday added 238 new coronavirus cases, which took its infection count to 7,65,934, the city civic body said.
As no death due to the virus was reported during the day, the city's death toll remained unchanged at 16,360, it said.
Maharashtra has so far reported 32 cases of the Omicron strain, including in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Omicron, classified as a 'variant of concern' by the WHO, was detected last month in southern Africa and it has has been causing alarm all over the world.
on Wednesday reported 925 new coronavirus positive cases, four of which were of Omicron variant infection, and 10 fresh fatalities, the health department said.
With this, the statewide caseload rose to 66,46,061, while the death toll increased to 1,41,298, it said in a health bulletin.
On Tuesday, the state had reported 684 new COVID-19 cases and 24 fatalities.
According to a report released by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV), four persons were found infected with the Omicron strain, the health department said.
With this, the tally of Omicron cases in the state reached 32.
Out of these four patients, two are from Osmanabad, one from Mumbai and one patient is from Buldhana.
State health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas, while making a presentation in the Maharashtra cabinet meeting held in Mumbai, said the Omicron variant is spreading fast in the world and Maharashtra is likely to see a surge in cases infected by it in January next year.
The cases of Omicron infection will be found in rural areas as well as in cities, he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has instructed officials to take extra efforts to complete the administration of the second dose of anti-COVID-19 vaccines to all eligible people.
The World Health Organisation, which had classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern', recently said that Omicron is spreading at a rate not seen with any previous strain.
A total of 929 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of recovered patients to 64,94,617.
There are now 6,467 active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra.
The state's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.72 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent, it said.
A total of 1,18,822 people were tested for coronavirus during the day, taking their cumulative count in the state to 6,71,82,510.
Mumbai reported 238 new COVID-19 cases and zero fatality, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Mumbai division, which comprises the city and its satellite townships, saw 417 cases and one fatality.
Pune division reported 297 new cases, Nashik (123), Aurangabad (15), Latur (22), Kolhapur (34), Nagpur (eight) and the Akola division (nine), the bulletin said.
Pune division recorded six deaths, while Nagpur, Akola, Aurangabad and Kolhapur divisions did not report any fatality.
Each administrative division consists of a set of districts.
The coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 66,46,061, new cases 925, death toll 1,41,298, recoveries 64,94,617, active cases 6,467, total tests 6,71,82,510.
More cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus are likely to come to the fore in January next year in Maharashtra, a senior public health department official said on Wednesday.
"The Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading fast in the world and Maharashtra is likely to see a surge in cases infected by it in January next year. The cases of Omicron infection will be found in rural areas as well as in cities," Maharashtra public health department's additional chief secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas said while making a presentation in the Maharashtra cabinet meeting in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has instructed officials to take extra efforts to complete the administration of the second dose of anti-COVID-19 vaccines to all eligible people.
The World Health Organisation, which had classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern', recently said that Omicron is spreading at a rate not seen with any previous strain.
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The tally of patients found infected with the Omicron variant in Maharashtra has risen to 32 with the four more such cases being detected, the state health department said on Wednesday.
Buldhana district in Maharashtra reported its first Omicron case on Wednesday after a 67-year-old man tested positive for this variant of coronavirus on his return from Dubai, an official said.
With this, the number of Omicron cases in the state has gone up to 29.
Resident deputy collector of Buldhana, Dinesh Gite, said the senior citizen is a local resident, who returned to Buldhana from Dubai on December 3.
He tested positive for COVID-19 on December 8, following which he was admitted to a hospital and his sample sent for genome sequencing.
"The report that came today confirmed that he is infected with the Omicron strain," he said.
Gite said that the patient's condition is stable and he is keeping well.
His family members and other close contacts have tested negative for the infection, the collector added.
Before this, 12 Omicron infection cases were found in Mumbai, 10 in Pimpri-Chinchwad (an industrial township in Pune district), two in Pune city, one each in Kalyan-Dombivali, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar, officials have said.