Religious places in Maharashtra are to reopen from Monday i.e. November 16 , stated several media reports citing the Maharashtra government on Saturday.
"All religious places in the state to re-open for devotees from Monday, November 16. Wearing of mask will be compulsory. All COVID norms will have to be followed", the reports mentioned.
This development follows an announcement by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, who in a statement said that religious places in the state would reopen after the festivities of Diwali. In an address last week, he had said that he had kept religious places closed to prevent overcrowding in such places.
Monday's reopening would witness religious places in Maharashtra open for the first time since late March, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Religious places in the country were closed with India going into a lock down in March 2020.
Maharashtra leads India's COVID-19 case count with close to 1.74 million cases of India's 8.77 million cases. As many as 45,682 COVID-19 deaths have been registered in the state till now. The state had recorded 4,132 new COVID-19 cases as of today, show data from the Ministry of Health of Family Welfare. However, the number of COVID-19 cases have seen a decline in Maharashtra in the past few weeks.
BOOM did not find any further standard operating procedures, or instructions on the reopening of places of worship in the state. This story will be updated on obtaining them.
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