Mumbai Mulls Over Reopening Malls, Restaurants for Longer Hours, Full Vaccination, Increased Ventilation Among Other Precautions to be Followed

As Covid-19 cases across India witnesses a downward trend, restaurants, and shopping malls in Mumbai are likely to see a decision in favor of reopening in the upcoming weeks.

Sources told TOI that the task force has green-signaled reopening for restaurants and malls with some restrictions on timings that are being worked on.

The decision to relax curbs in Maharashtra comes in the aftermath of a discussion held by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray with members from the state Covid taskforce, pediatric task force, and public health officials on Monday with regards to the onset of Covid third wave and the creation of SOPs for closed spaces.

“There was a line of thought to allow malls to open up only when their employees are fully vaccinated, but the shortage of vaccines and the 84-day gap between doses makes it unviable. Thought is being given on whether only fully vaccinated people should be allowed in malls. A final decision will be taken soon,” an official told TOI.

Earlier, the state govt had announced the resumption of Mumbai locals by fully vaccinated people from August 15 onwards. A decision on reopening places of worship was however dismissed during the meeting due to fear of unmanageable crowds on the roads on festive days. “There is no way to control the crowds at famous religious places and so it was decided to push back its re-opening by a few months,” said a senior official.

With regards to the reopening of restaurants, the task force emphasized on complete vaccination of restaurant staff in order to make their workplaces safe. Besides full vaccination, the task force also asserted compliance with certain guidelines that required restaurants to minimize the use of air-conditioning, keep doors and windows open for ventilation, install exhausts in washrooms and keep the occupancy at 50 percent.

As per sources, the state is set to witness more sectors unlocking in the coming weeks, but in phases. “It won’t happen all at one go since opening everything at the same time could accelerate the third wave. There will be some relaxation every 15 days which will be granted looking at the positivity rate and vaccination numbers,” one of the experts told TOI.

At present, the state task force has submitted protocols for reopening to the public health department that will deliberate on them and release the final orders.

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