COVID-19: Places of worship allowed to reopen in Maharashtra from Oct 7, SOPs issued

Places of worship in Maharashtra will be allowed to open for the public from October 7, months after being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, informed the state government.

The places of worship will open only outside of the containment zones and will function as per the timings decided by the trust/board/authority of the respective place, it added.

The Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) released by the Maharashtra government mandate the use of face masks, ensuring social distancing and makes the provision of thermal scanning, hand wash, and hand sanitisers compulsory.

The guidelines also advise persons above 65 years of age, persons with comorbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years to stay home.

Earlier today, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray said that after combating the second wave, we have now planned to fight the possible third wave.

"But gradually we have been taking care of everything and relaxing the restrictions in many cases. Although the number of Coronavirus patients is currently declining, we need to be more careful. Even if religious places are open to the devotees, the guidelines of COVID-19 must be followed," he added.

Maharashtra on Friday reported 3,286 new COVID-19 infections taking the state's overall caseload to 65,37,843. The death toll climbed to 1,38,776 as 51 more lives were lost due to the virus in the last 24 hours.

( With inputs from ANI )