Covid-19: Maharashtra mulls going mask-free, seeks information from experts

MUMBAI: The state government has sought information from the Central and the state Covid task forces on the measures to be adopted to make Maharashtra mask-free at the earliest, state health minister Rajesh Tope said in Kolhapur on Thursday. The appeal incidentally came on a day Mumbai's test positivity rate dropped to 1% after 56 days of rising to over 25% on some days.

Tope said that several countries now allowed their citizens to stop wearing masks, which had emerged as the best protection against the Covid-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"In the recent cabinet meeting, we discussed making the state mask-free. Several countries such as the UK have finally asked their citizens to stop wearing masks. We have requested the Central and the state task forces to provide us with information on how they achieved it," he said. However, he underlined that the mask rule will continue for some time in Maharashtra as "our demography is huge."

On Thursday, Maharashtra's daily Covid caseload dropped to 6,248 as against 7,142 on the previous day. Mumbai's cases rose marginally to 429, but still remained below 500 for the fourth consecutive day. The daily toll almost halved in a 24-hour period, with the state registering 45 deaths, including two in Mumbai. BMC commissioner I Chahal said, "Ever since Mumbai's Covid positivity rate increased to touch 1% on December 21 last year today after 56 days, the positivity rate is back to 1% again.''

He said that the city had registered 2.85 lakh Covid cases and 312 deaths in the 56 days of the third wave so far. Stating that Mumbai had seen an average of 5.5 deaths per day during this 56-day period, Chahal said that "this is one of the lowest single-digit mortality rate in the third wave for any comparable city at the national or international level." Active cases in the state dropped to 70,000 on Thursday, while less than 4,000 cases are under treatment in the city.

Senior Maharashtra government officials said that the state government will be reviewing the restrictions that have been in place in the wake of falling numbers and soon, more relaxations will be given. "At the moment restaurants, theatres are running at 50% capacity, more relaxations to these establishments are on the cards," the official said.