COVID: Mah govt likely to allow fully-vaccinated commuters in local trains

Pune/Mumbai: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said the Disaster Management Department is in favour of allowing people to commute in local trains proviso they have taken both doses of the COVID shots.
Presently, only those engaged in essential and emergency services, as categorised by the Maharashtra government, are allowed to travel in local trains.
Mr Tope has said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take the final call on easing coronavirus-related restrictions across several districts of the state during today’s Covid-19 task force meeting.
“We have suggested that Covid relaxation should be given to 25 districts where the positivity rate is much lower than the state average,” he told.
He continued, “In 11 out of 36 districts in the state, the positivity rate is higher than the state’s average and the infection spread is also more. These include Beed, Ahmednagar and districts from Konkan and western Maharashtra.”
When asked about factors that were a deterrent for the Maharashtra government from introducing more relaxations in Covid-19 curbs, he said the UK, Australia and some countries of the European Union have reported the onset of the third wave of coronavirus.
“Many countries have introduced lockdown again to contain the (infection) spread. The same challenges are before us as well,” he underscored.
He appealed to people, especially from rural areas, to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
“The vaccination reduces the severity of the disease and also sharply reduces mortality (due to Covid-19),” he asserted.