Maharashtra mulls five-level plan to lift lockdown; full details here

Maharashtra minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Thursday announced the cancellation of Class 12 board exams while stating that the government is working on a five-level unlock plan to ease COVID-19-led lockdown across the state.The restrictions will depend on the weekly COVID-19 positivity rate and status of occupancy of oxygen beds."We have prepared a 5-level unlock plan for the state on the basis of positivity rate and status of occupancy of oxygen beds in the districts. Districts with the lowest positivity rate will have no restrictions," Wadettiwar told ANI.He also announced the cancellation of the Class 12 board exam. According to CNN-News18, the Maharashtra minister said that while there will be no restrictions in areas with low positivity rate such as Thane, relaxations will be allowed in other areas with restrictions. The state government, however, has not confirmed if and when the plan will be implemented.E-passes for inter-district movement will continue to be mandatory in Level Five districts, the TV news channel added.This, just days after the state government allowed essential shops to remain open till 2 pm in districts with 10 percent Covid positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds was less than 40 percent giving respite to people who have been living under complete lockdown in Maharashtra since April.Here is what the proposed five-level unlock plan says:Level one districts are those with positivity rate of 5 percent or below and Oxygen bed occupancy less than 25 percent. If implemented, there will be no lockdown in districts categorised as Level One. Currently, Aurangabad, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gondia, Jalgaon, Latur, Nanded, Nasik, Parbhani, Thane and Vardha fall into this category."Restaurants, malls, shops, local trains, public places, tourist destinations, public, private offices, theatres, shootings, gatherings, social entertainment, marriages, gym, salon, beauty parlours will be allowed.Level 2 districts are those with positivity rate 5 percent and oxygen bed occupancy up to 50 percent. As per the proposed 'unlock' plan, Section 144 will remain applicable in Level Two districts. The proposal allows for more activities, but with certain restictions.Gyms, salons, beauty parlours could be allowed to open with 50 percent occupancy in Level Two districts. However, there is no proposal to allow local trains in these areas.Currrently, 10 districts namely Akola, Beed, Kolhapur, Usmanabad, Ratnagiri, Palgahar, Sindhudurg, Sangli, Solapur and Satara fall into Level Three category, whereas, Pune and Raigad fall into the Level four category.