With 1,248 new Covid-19 cases and 17 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, the state’s tally is now 32,362 cases and 862 deaths. (Express Photo)
THE UTTAR Pradesh government on Thursday announced fresh “restrictions” for the weekend, according to which all markets, offices and commercial establishments will remain closed from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday. Only emergency and essential services will remain open during this period.
The order, issued by State Chief Secretary R K Tiwari to the district and police administration, says the restrictions are being imposed to control the spread of “Covid-19 and communicable diseases like malaria, encephalitis, dengue and kala-azar”.
With 1,248 new Covid-19 cases and 17 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, the state’s tally is now 32,362 cases and 862 deaths. Of these, 24,287 cases and 645 deaths were reported since June 1. The areas with the highest number of active cases are Ghaziabad, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur and Meerut.
The order came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the state government’s efforts in controlling Covid-19 deaths.
Acccording to the order, all offices, markets, rural haats, mandis and commercial establishments will remain closed. However, doorstep delivery will be allowed.
Only movement of those associated with essential services will be permitted, but they must show their identity cards which will be considered as their “duty pass”.
There will be no restrictions on flights or trains. The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation will be allowed to operate buses for train passengers; all other bus services will be stopped.
While industrial units in rural areas will remain operational, those in urban areas will be closed – except those that are categorised as “continuous units”.
The national and state highways will remain open, and petrol pumps and dhabas along these highways will be allowed to operate.
The construction of major infrastructure projects like expressways, bridges and roads as well as big private construction projects will not be affected.
The health department will send teams to conduct house-to-house surveys during this period.