MUMBAI: In view of concerns about the Omicron variant of coronavirus, churches should operate with 50 per cent seating capacity during Christmas festivities, said the latest guidelines issued by the Maharashtra government on Thursday.
Only a minimum number of choristers should be allowed to perform choirs inside the churches and separate mics should be given to each performer, they added.
The guidelines, issued by the state home department, also instructed that social distancing be maintained at churches, masks should be worn and hand sanitizers be made available.
People should celebrate Christmas by taking all precautionary measures to avoid viral infection as Omicron variant can spread rapidly, the guidelines said.
The state on Thursday reported 1,179 new coronavirus cases including 23 Omicron variant ones and 17 deaths, the state health department said.
The state's COVID-19 caseload increased to 66,53,345 while the death toll on account of the pandemic rose to 1,41,392.
On Wednesday the state had reported 1,201 new infections.
On Thursday, 23 Omicron cases were reported, the highest in a single day so far, taking the tally of such cases to 88.
On Wednesday, no new Omicron cases had been reported in the state.
Four of the new patients are minor.
As many as 17 of these patients were asymptomatic while six had mild symptoms, the official statement said.
Of the fresh Omicron cases, 13 were from Pune district, five from Mumbai, two from Osmanabad and one each from Thane, Nagpur and Mira-Bhayander.
Sixteen of these patients have history of international travel while seven others had come in close contact with them.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief minister Ajit Pawar pointed out that some MLAs were not wearing masks in the House during the ongoing winter session of the state legislature.
Things should be taken seriously in the light of the new variant of coronavirus, he said in the Assembly.
There are now 7,897 active COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra after 615 patients were discharged from hospitals following recovery in the last 24 hours.
The recovery rate in the state is 97.7 per cent while the case fatality rate stands at 2.12 per cent.
As many as 1,10,997 new tests were conducted during the day, taking the number of samples examined for coronavirus so far to 6,81,17,319.
Currently 76,373 people are in home quarantine and 899 in institutional quarantine.
State capital Mumbai reported 602 new coronavirus cases and one fatality, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
Twelve districts and four municipal corporations did not report any new COVID-19 cases.
Among the eight administrative regions of Maharashtra (each consisting of a set of districts), the Mumbai region reported the highest 821 new cases, followed by 204 in Pune and 91 in the Nashik region.
Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Latur, Nagpur and Akola regions reported 14, 18, 13, 12 and six new cases, respectively.
The Pune region reported 10 fatalities, followed by three in the Mumbai region and two in Nashik.
Latur and Akola regions reported one fatality each.
Aurangabad, Nagpur and Kolhapur regions did not report any fresh fatality.
Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 66,53,345; new cases 1,179; fatalities: 17; total deaths 1,41,392; recoveries 65,00,375; active cases 7,897; total tests 6,81,17,319.