Coronavirus: All malls in Maharashtra to remain closed till 31 March

Maharashtra government on Saturday issued an advisory directing all malls to remain shut till 31 March, after fresh cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in the state. The advisory exempts grocery retailers, pharmacies, and other essential services stores in the malls.

Following the government directive, malls in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur shuttered starting Sunday morning, and some even late on Saturday night.

As of Sunday, Maharashtra reported a total of 31 COVID-19 cases, highest in the country after Kerala. The state government has already directed schools, gyms, and colleges to remain close down following cases that are being reported from several parts of Maharashtra.

Infiniti mall has shut both the properties in Andheri and Malad starting March 15.

“In light of the outbreak of coronavirus, we have implemented the directive issued by the Government of Maharashtra which requires all the malls to be closed. Infiniti Mall, both Andheri and Malad will remain shut starting 15th March 2020 until further notice,” mall authorities said in a statement.

Maharashtra follows several states such as Karnataka, and Telengana that have stepped up extreme measures to contain the outbreak of the highly contagious COVID-19.

Maharashtra had earlier issued an advisory directing gym, schools, training institutes, colleges etc to remain shut.

Virtuous Retail that manages several malls across India shut its property in Nagpur on Sunday, a top executive at the company told Mint.

Nexus Malls that operates several large malls across India has shut three properties including its malls in Pune, and Mumbai on Saturday night.