“Since we have decided to reopen primary schools as well from December 1, there’s no logic in continuing these restrictions,” Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar said.
Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said the district administration has decided to do away with the 50 per cent occupancy restrictions placed on restaurants, cinema halls and theatres, among others, in view of the improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
“Since we have decided to reopen primary schools as well from December 1, there’s no logic in continuing these restrictions,” Pawar said.
Pawar added that in light of the emergence of a new variant of Covid-19 in South Africa, the issue of permitting international flights to Mumbai will be taken up with the Centre.
“Without doubt, we need some restrictions on international flights coming from places of concern, especially South Africa, but that will have to be decided by the Union government,” Pawar said.
‘Jumbo hospitals will remain in place’
Pawar said the Jumbo Covid-19 hospitals set up at the College of Engineering, Pune and Bhosari will not be dismantled as yet. He said that considering the concerns sparked by the emergence of the new coronavirus variant, the infrastructure will remain in place and a decision regarding the dismantling of the hospitals will be taken towards the end of December.
“The hospitals have been set up after a lot of effort. Pulling them down is easy but if we need them in future, redoing them will take a lot of time,” Pawar said.
Relief for domestic fliers
Domestic fliers arriving at the Pune Airport will no longer be required to undergo the elaborate check-up process for detection of Covid-19, Pawar said.
“In some cases, it was taking between 2 to 2.5 hours after flying for a short trip of about an hour. Also considering that airlines have been asked to board only those who have taken both the doses of the vaccine and have a negative RT-PCR test report, there’s no logic in inspecting them again after a short domestic flight,” the minister said.
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