- Saturday, February 22, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA on Saturday (9) reported 159,632 new Covid-19 cases as the Omicron variant continues to spread rapidly across its territory, pushing a number of states to impose fresh restrictions.
The western state of Maharashtra, which has been one of the most affected ones, said it would shut swimming pools and gyms from Monday (10) while schools and colleges have been already closed till February 15 after the daily cases rose to more than 41,000.
The state government has said that only people who have taken both doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be allowed into private offices while only 50 per cent of the total workforce will be allowed to work in the facilities.
In Maharashtra’s neighbour Gujarat, authorities have extended night curfew hours and scrapped leave for all healthcare workers.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was set to chair a meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in the state late on Sunday (9), sources in the Indian government said.
The country’s health ministry reported 327 fresh deaths, taking the official death toll in the pandemic to more than 483,000. The total infections stand at 35.52 million.
