HomeNewscoronavirusCOVID-19 Curbs: Maharashtra govt eases restrictions in 14 districts ; Check the new guidelines

COVID-19 Curbs: Maharashtra govt eases restrictions in 14 districts ; Check the new guidelines

A government order has detailed the new guidelines for 14 districts of the state, including Mumbai. These guidelines will come into effect from March 4.

March 02, 2022 / 19:08 IST
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Coronavirus in India (Representative image)
Coronavirus in India (Representative image)

COVID-19 restrictions have now been eased in Maharashtra as the state has been witnessing a downfall in cases, post the Omicron wave. A government order has detailed the new guidelines for 14 districts of the state, including Mumbai. These guidelines will come into effect from March 4.

The 14 districts, which fall under Category 'A' are Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Pune, Bhandara, Sindhudurg, Nagpur, Raigad, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Gondia, Chandrapur and Kolhapur.

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They have been selected as these are districts where first vaccination dose is more than 90 per cent, second dose over 70 per cent, positivity rate less than 10% and bed occupancy of oxygen supported or ICU bed is less than 40%.

Here's a detailed list of what's allowed and what's not in these 14 districts: 

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
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