There will be no lockdowns on Sundays until further orders. However, Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta said in his latest directive on Saturday that the police would continue to impose night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on all days.
There are no restrictions on retail trade. People could buy liquor as takeaways. However, no sale of alcohol is permitted after 5 p.m. Hotels and restaurants could admit diners. However, many have closed shop due to lack of patrons.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera said businesses, including convenience stores and supermarkets, should specify the number of people permitted inside at a given time.
They should prominently display a notice announcing the legally allowable number of customers.
The floor area of the establishment and the minimum 1.8-metre distance between customers would define the calculus for determining the number of people allowed inside.
In 2 km radius
The government scrambled to lock down localities in concentric circles within a 2 km radius of new hotspots even as it struggled to halt the downward spiral of the local economy by coaxing businesses to restart.
The plan focussed on locking down localities within a limited radius of the fresh outbreak for a minimum of seven days while allowing life to continue as usual outside the perimeter of the cluster. On the ground, the targeted containment strategy manifested in locked-down markets, roped-off neighbourhoods, shuttered shops and barricaded residential colonies.
Across the State, people woke up in the morning to realise that the government had notified their localities as containment zones after midnight. The government said the influx of expatriates had contributed to the increase in the State’s caseload.
It was bracing itself for a spike in cases with the Health Department set to increase random testing of the general population from July. The police were in the front line of pandemic control activities.
The government has relied heavily on law enforcement to seal containment zones, enforce the wearing of masks, prevent commotion and crowds in public places and ensure citizens complied with the rules of physical distancing.