New Delhi: Taking cognizance of complaints of various violations of the COVID-related curbs at weddings and parties, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh ordered an extension of the night curfew (from 10 pm to 5 am) in all cities and towns in the state till January 1, 2021. The chief minister asked the Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta to strictly enforce the restrictions at wedding venues and other places and slap penalties on the hosts in case of violations.
The Punjab government has also scaled down the number of people allowed at indoor gatherings from 200 to 100 in the wake of coronavirus cases. According to the official statement, the chief minister has ordered a restriction of 100 people on indoor and 250 people on outdoor gatherings at marriage functions and parties in the state till January 1.
To further check the COVID-related fatality, Singh ordered a thorough check of all the private hospitals in the state to ensure that only those with adequate “Level 3” infrastructure (to deal with critically-ill COVID patients) and manpower be allowed to admit coronavirus patients.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll in Punjab rose to 5,036 on Friday with 29 more fatalities, while 549 fresh cases pushed the infection tally in the state to 1,59,099. Five deaths were reported from Amritsar, four each from Bathinda, Gurdaspur and Jalandhar, three from Ludhiana and one each from Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Mansa, Mohali, Pathankot, Patiala, Rupnagar and Tarn Taran, according to a medical bulletin.
There are 7,286 active COVID-19 cases in the state as of now. A total of 651 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of cured people to 1,46,777, as per bulletin. A total of 34,68,629 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it added.