Cinema halls, auditoriums in Maharashtra to reopen from 22 Oct, says Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said cinema halls and drama theatres in the state will be permitted to operate from October 22 on the condition that they follow all the protocols required to prevent the spread of coronavirus.The state government will soon issue the standard operating procedure (SOPs) in this regard, he 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.