Amid fall in daily COVID 19 cases and deaths, the Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced that the people with one vaccine dose will be allowed to commute in Mumbai local trains and visit malls and other public places/sites after Diwali. Tope said the schools have reopened from October 4, temples from October 7 while colleges will restart from October 20 and cinemas from October 22.
‘’If the COVID 19 positive cases are under control then the government will relax curbs on the movement of people in local trains, malls and other public places. The Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after discussion with the Public Health Department and the Task Force of COVID 19 will take a final decision in this regard. The condition of a time gap of 84 days between two doses for taking the Covishield vaccine is causing a lot of inconvenience to the people,’’ said Tope. He claimed that the crowding takes place during the festive season following relaxations provided under the BreaktheChain order but it will be monitored whether it leads to spike in cases or they continue to fall.
‘’The Chief Minister will take a decision also after reviewing the herd immunity status,’’ said Tope. A public health department officer said herd immunity can be reached when enough people in the population have recovered from a disease and vaccinated and have developed protective antibodies against future infection.
