With the number of Covid cases rising alarmingly in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has said that his government will be forced to take stricter action to control the upward graph of cases. To begin with, night curfew timings in nine districts have been extended by two hours.
While addressing a press conference, the Chief minister said that the curfew timings in nine districts would now be from 9 pm to 5 am, instead of the previous time period of 11 pm to 5 am.
He said he was meeting medical experts in a day to take stock of the situation before announcing further stricter measures to check the spread. “The way the numbers are increasing, our fear is that we would have to adopt strict measures like restricting gathering and punishment, ” said Capt Amarinder Singh.
He said that his government was also looking into requests from Himachal Pradesh regarding movement of people from Punjab to religious sites in Himachal Pradesh, though he said he was not in favour of it.
The Chief Minister said 2,039 fresh Covid cases and 35 deaths had been reported till Wednesday evening. At least 283 people were on oxygen support. “The fatality rate, as well as positivity rate, is something that is a cause of concern to us and we are taking more steps shortly,’’ he said.