Beauty salons and gyms will be permitted to operate at 50% capacity, the Maharashtra government notified on Sunday, revising its previous order. 

Maharastra had on Saturday ordered all salons, spas, and gyms to be completely shut, in response to the COVID-19 surge in the state, fuelled possibly by the highly contagious omicron variant. 

The revised restrictions, under which salons and gyms have been allowed to work at restricted capacity, would be implemented from tomorrow. 

“Beauty salons will be grouped with hair cutting salons and shall be allowed to remain open with 50% capacity subject to restriction mentioned in the table for hair cutting salons. In these establishments only those activities that do not require removal of masks by anyone shall be allowed,” the government said in a statement.

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Further, only fully vaccinated persons shall be allowed to use these services. 

“Gyms are allowed to remain open with 50% capacity, subject to use of masks while performing any activity. Only fully vaccinated persons shall be allowed to use these services. All the staff engaged in operation shall be fully vaccinated,” it added.

Sports complexes, swimming pools, spas and wellness centres continue to remain shut. Schools and colleges will also remain closed till February 15. Shopping malls, restaurants will operate between 8 am and 10 pm at 50% capacity.

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Under the mandate, government offices are encouraged to promote work-from-home for employees wherever possible and visitors will only be entertained with explicit and written notes from Heads of Offices. Citizens may seek appointment with officials virtually, over video conferencing.

Private offices will operate at a 50% capacity and only fully vaccinated employees shall be allowed to work from office.

The Maharashtra government has also imposed a night curfew between 11 pm to 5 am from Monday, January 10.

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With 1,009 cases, Maharashtra has recorded the most omicron cases among 27 states and Union Territories (UTs) where the new ‘variant of concern’ has been detected. 

Regarding the possibility of lockdown, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said on Saturday that the government’s aim was to curtail unnecessary crowding and not impose a lockdown. “The fact is that no restrictions will be effective unless we all adhere to Covid protocols,” he had said.