Coronavirus Pandemic: Maharashtra shuts workplaces till March 31, Delhi malls closed

Amid growing
concern over the spread of coronavirus, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray said on Friday that all workplaces in major cities of the state,
including Mumbai and Pune, will remain closed till March 31.

The shutdown
will be applicable in Mumbai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune, Pimpri
Chinchwad and Nagpur, Uddhav Thackeray told.

Government
offices will operate at 25 per cent attendance, he said.

Maharashtra
so far has 52 coronavirus positive cases, while one Covid-19 patient died in
Mumbai this week. said the maximum number of patients were from these cities
and had travelled abroad.

In a
televised address, Uddhav Thackeray said only essential services will remain
open which include food, milk and medicines.

Banks will
remain functional, Thackeray said. The attendance in government offices will be
brought down to 25 per cent from the present 50 percent on a rotation basis as
announced earlier, he said.

The Chief
Minister ruled out shutting down public transport in Mumbai.

He said
people have heeded to his request to stay at home and the trains and buses are
not crowded as usual.

Meanwhile,
all malls in the national capital will be closed in view of the COVID-19 threat
but grocery and pharmacy stores in them are exempt, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal said on Friday.