The Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that all places of worship in the state will be allowed to reopen starting October 7 which is the first day of Navratri. In a statement released by the Chief Minister’s office Uddhav Thackeray announced that all places of worship will be opened from October 7.“After tackling the second wave we have drafted a plan to contain the third wave. We are planning to relax restrictions in a gradual manner.
Although the number of corona patients is currently declining, we need to be more careful. Even if religious places are being opened for devotees, all rules pertaining to public health need to be followed,” Thackeray said in a statement. After the first coronavirus wave waned, places of religious worship were reopened in Maharashtra in November last year, but they were shutdown again for people after the second wave started in the state in March 2021. Maharashtra on Friday reported 3,286 new coronavirus cases and 51 deaths, which took the state''s infection tally to 65,37,843 and the toll to 1,38,776, a health department official said. With 3,933 patients discharged from hospitals, the number of recovered cases rose to 63,57,012. Maharashtra now has 39,491 active cases.