Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Wednesday issued fresh restrictions to be imposed in the state from 8 pm on April 22 to 7am on May 1.

WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES

Private buses can ply with 50 per cent of seating capacity with no standing travellers.

Marriage ceremony may be conducted only as a single event in a single hall not extending beyond 2 hours with maximum of total 25 persons attending the same. Any family seen to be flaunting the restraints or not following these in letter and spirit may be fined Rs 50,000.

As per the orders, attendance in government offices reduces to 15 per cent except departments engaged in emergency services. Also, all private offices that were allowed to function as part of the exempted category to have been asked to reduce attendance from 50 per cent to 15 per cent.

All other conditions other than ones specified

in this order dated April 13 and additions, clarifications already therof by the state government.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 67,468 fresh cases while it saw 568 fatalities. This has taken the case tally at 40,27,827 and active cases at 6,95,747.

All Maharashtra ministers on Tuesday demanded that a complete lockdown should be enforced in the state in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and deaths, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here. The ministers' demand came in the wake of the continuously worsening situation in Maharashtra. Earlier, the Maharashtra has also announced that all essential buying of food items shall be allowed for only four hours daily for the next 10 days in order to break the chain of COVID-19.

In a tough order on Monday, the government in its order stated that all groceries, vegetable shops, fruit vendors, dairies, bakeries, confectioneries, all types of food shops including those selling, poultry, fish and eggs, can operate only between 7 am to 11 am daily.

SSC EXAMS CANCELLED

On the other side, School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad declared that the upcoming state SSC Board exams for 2021 have been cancelled.

"Earlier we had declared plans to conduct the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education Class 10 exams in June. However, given the current Covid-19 situation, the state cabinet has decided to cancel the state board SSC exams this year," Varsha Gaikwad said in a statement. She also informed that the ministry will soon decide the process to be followed for promoting all the Class 10 students to Class 11 based on internal assignments and other criteria.

Meanwhile, a day after a slight dip, COVID-19 cases went up again in Maharashtra on Tuesday with the state reporting its highest ever death total with a surge in the number of active cases.

After a record of 68,631 new cases on Saturday, Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 62,097 new cases. The state's deaths jumped from the previous high of 515 in September last year to a new record of 519 on Tuesday. With this, the state's death tally now stands at 61,343, the worst in India.