Nagpur, Chandrapur, Yavatmal & Gondia eligible for total relaxations

Nagpur: Nagpur, Chandrapur, Gondia and Yavatmal – four districts in Vidarbha; including area under Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) as a separate administrative unit, are eligible for complete unlockdown from Monday. These four districts fit both the criteria for Level 1 — less than 5% test positivity and less than 25% oxygen bed occupancy — set by the state government’s disaster management department.
All shops, markets, malls, activities and events will be allowed and all offices will function with 100% capacity in the districts/units coming under level 1.
None of these five units issued any notification for unlockdown by late Saturday night. Authorities appear to be a bit hesitant in lifting all the restrictions.
Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Gondia district authorities told TOI that their notifications will be out by Sunday evening after discussions with the health department officials and guardian ministers of the respective districts.
Akola and Washim were the only two districts in Vidarbha to release notifications on Saturday evening. Both districts fall in Level 3. Akola’s district collector Jitendra Papalkar said several relaxations will be allowed from from 7am on June 7 as per state order. In Washim, district collector Shanmugarajan issued new notification.
Buldhana is the only district that falls in Level 4. Buldhana is also undecided about the notification. Sources said guardian minister will hold meeting on Sunday after which notification will be issued.
Nagpur City (municipal corporation region) as well as Nagpur district (Rural) both units are in Level 1 and set to be fully unlocked from Monday. However, the district collector (for rural) and the municipal commissioner (for city) were busy holding meetings with district and city health officials throughout Saturday, but none of them issued any revised guidelines or unlock plan.
The Nagpur municipal corporation issued an official correspondence stating that unlock notification will be issued on by Sunday evening. On Sunday, district guardian minister Dr Nitin Raut will chair a meeting with the authorities at 11am. While Nagpur district’s overall positivity rate is 3.86%, city’s TPR is 2%. Only 6.4% oxygen beds are occupied in city while 8.1% in district.
The bed occupancy report for the week that ended on June 3 shows that Bhandara, Wardha and Gadchiroli have less than 25% oxygen beds occupied, which means they fit in one parameter. But, the test positivity in these districts is slightly higher than 5%. So, they are in Level 3 and will not be fully unlocked from Monday. But all these districts will definitely get relaxations. The notifications are still awaited.
Amravati, with 6.56% positivity and 28.5% oxygen beds occupied, falls in the Level 3 along with Akola having 7.74% positivity and 43% of oxygen beds occupied (up to June 3).