Punjab government has imposed an 8-hour long night curfew from 09:00 pm to 05:00 am till April 30 across the state in view of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Before this, night curfew was imposed across 12 districts of the state. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has ordered a complete ban on political gatherings and those who flout the rules, including politicians will be booked under the Disaster Management Act and Epidemics Act.
Punjab Government imposes night curfew from 9pm-5am across the entire State till April 30, also bans political gatherings in the State pic.twitter.com/8lKIXxF3MP
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2021
Besides this, gathering of not more than 50 people can attend events like funerals, cremation ceremonies and/or weddings organised at indoor venues. In case of outdoor venues, the gatherings have been capped at 100 people. Schools and educational institutions will also remain closed.
It is also mandatory for all government officers to wear face masks while in office. There, however, is some good news for shop owners in malls. The Chief Minister has allowed 10 people per shop at any time.
During the weekly review of COVID-19 situation, Singh said 85 per cent of cases in Punjab can be attributed to the UK mutant of the virus, adding the government had no other option but to take stringent measures.
Punjab, which is one of the states to report an upward COVID-19 trend in India, has reported over 2.57 lakh total cases. Out of these, more than 2.23 lakh people have recovered, with 2,350 discharges in the last 24 hours. Total 7,216 people have succumbed to the disease so far, with 61 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state has 25,913 active cases, with 494 infections reported on Tuesday.
Punjab has so far administered total 14.16 lakh COVID-19 vaccine shots so far. Out of these, over 12.84 lakh people received the first shot whereas more than 1.31 lakh people got the second shot of the life-saving jab.