Hotels...

Remaining 67% of the facility can be used for the quarantine facility by the district/municipal administration. The hotels have been asked to admit asymptomatic patients only after taking their travel history and self-declaration. The guests are also mandated to wear face masks at all times during their stay.

It has been made mandatory for the hotel management to sanitize the rooms, lavatories, drinking and hand-washing stations and washrooms at regular intervals. Besides the sanitisation, the changing of linens and keeping rooms vacant for at least a day after it is vacated by the guest has also been made compulsory. Besides measures to avoid crowding, the notification has also made it compulsory to keep pedal-operated hand sanitizers at the entrance, in the rooms, thermal scanner at the entrance and making personal protection equipment (PPE) available to all staff members. The hotels have also been directed to follow the guidelines issued by the Central government related to the use of airconditioning facilities.

“We welcome the step and expect the cap over occupancy is removed gradually in phased manner. We have clarified to the honourable CM that hotels are the safest places in terms of maintaining social distance and there should not have been any cap on operations. Some of the compulsions like sanitizer in every room and thermal screening at the entrance are too harsh and uncalled for. In such conditions, many hoteliers would opt to not begin operations immediately,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI).

Hotelier Dilip Datwani said that with 33% cap it would not be feasible to operate as the operation and maintenance cost remain the same. “Similarly, with the restrictions on industrial operations and on travelling, there are no takers too for services,” he said.

Kohli said that there are 53,000 hotels in organised sectors across the country and 10,500 are in Maharashtra. The estimated losses, according to him, during the period of the lockdown are Rs1.10 lakh crore. Representatives of hoteliers had a meeting with the CM on Sunday. der reported 123.

Besides Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane recorded 28 and 10 fatalities respectively, while Pune, Vasai Virar and Nashik city reported 13 deaths each on Monday. Jalgaon district reported 12 deaths on Monday.

“The daily rise in cases is lower on Monday. But it is hardly a trend unless it sustains for a longer period. The cases in MMR and few other regions are still increasing. We expect the cases to rise till this month-end before they start to plateau,” said a senior health department official. Besides MMR, Pune, Pimpri-chinchwad, Nashik, Jalgaon, Jalna and Aurangabad have also clocked several cases on Monday. Pune reported 520 cases, while Pimpri-chinchwad reported 257 new cases. Jalgaon district reported 188 new cases. Aurangabad district and city reported 83 and 161 new cases, taking the total cases there to 6,782.

The local administration in Jalgaon, Jalna, and Aurangabad has announced a complete lockdown looking at the spike in cases in the past few days. In the wake of the rising cases, the district administration and municipal bodies are enforcing stringent lockdowns to manage patients and the burden on health infrastructure.

There would be a complete lockdown in Aurangabad city from July 10 to July 18 in the wake of rising number of coronavirus cases. This phase of the lockdown will be in force for nine days and only essential services will be allowed to operate during this period. Jalna district collector Ravindra Binwade has already announced a lockdown in the district from Monday till July 16, while a lockdown has been announced in Jalgaon from Tuesday.

State health commissioner Dr Anup Kumar Yadav said that the priority before the state government is to keep mortality in check. He said that the state had set up a task force with expert doctors to tend to critical patients. “We have changed clinical guidelines, have set up a task-force in every district where advice from expert doctors, epidemiologists and virologists are being made available to rural patients with comorbidities,” Yadav.

Yadav added that the state government is also procuring adequate quantities of drugs that could prove to be life-saving for patients in critical condition. Without divulging the quantity of remdesivir and other drugs, Yadav said, “We have some stock of these drugs, and we are also procuring more for every district.” He added that the state is also adding ventilators in districts and tier-two cities where the health infrastructure is weaker.

In a bid to give a boost to the reopening of businesses, the state government has decided to allow any private establishment seeking to reopen to get their staff tested for Covid-19. The state medical education and drugs department (MEDD) issued a government resolution (GR) on Monday stating that private establishment had repeatedly sought relaxations in getting their staffers tested before reopening their businesses. According to the GR, minimum 50 people are required from an establishment for a group test. The head of the establishment must approach the district collector or municipal commissioner in urban areas to seek approval for the tests. They would have to mention the type of test they want to undergo, including RT-PCR, Truenat, CBNAAT, antibody, or antigen test, in their application.

“It is a part of Mission Begin Again for establishments that want to reopen. The establishments can approach the district collector and get approval for tests, and say we have this private lab and we need permission to test our employees. We have allowed two things: all labs to conduct antigen and antibody tests so testing is ramped up,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, secretary, MEDD.

Meanwhile, the recovery rate in the state continued to remain over 54 % with 3,522 patients discharged on Monday. So far, 1,15,262 patients have been discharged after full recovery until today. The total number of active cases in the state stands at 87,681.

(with inputs from Eeshanpriya MS)

ACCORDING TO THE GR, MINIMUM 50 PEOPLE ARE REQUIRED FROM AN ESTABLISHMENT FOR A GROUP TEST. THE HEAD OF THE ESTABLISHMENT MUST APPROACH THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR OR CIVIC CHIEF IN URBAN AREAS TO SEEK APPROVAL FOR THE TESTS. THEY WOULD HAVE TO MENTION THE TYPE OF TEST THEY WANT TO UNDERGO IN THEIR APPLICATION