Cinema halls, theaters to reopen in Mahrashtra from October 22
The Maharashtra government on Saturday announced the reopening of cinema halls and theaters in the state from October 22, in strict compliance with Covid-19 protocols.
The state government will soon issue the standard operating procedure (SOPs) in this regard, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said.
Thackeray was speaking at a meeting of the COVID-19 task force, which was also attended by Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, filmmakers Rohit Shetty and Kunal Kapoor, theatre personality Makarand Deshpande, Marathi actors Subodh Bhave, Aadesh Bandekar, among others.
In the meeting, it was announced that cinema halls and drama theatres will be allowed to function from October 22, provided they follow all COVID-19- related health protocols.
On Friday, the state government had announced the reopening of religious places from October 7, and issued an SOP for devotees and officials managing places of worship to ensure strict implement of coronavirus-related protocols.
The same day, the government had also announced that physical classes in schools would resume across the state from October 4. Classes 5 to 12 in all the schools in rural areas and Classes 8 to 12 in urban areas would resume, school education minister Varsha Gaikwad had said.
Maharashtra on Friday reported 3,286 new coronavirus cases and 51 deaths, which took the state's infection tally to 65,37,843 and the toll to 1,38,776, a health department official said.
With 3,933 patients discharged from hospitals, the number of recovered cases rose to 63,57,012. Maharashtra now has 39,491 active cases.
(with PTI inputs)
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