PATNA: Amid sustained daily increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in the the state, CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday announced night curfew from 9pm to 5am, besides authorizing the district and block headquarters to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC to restrict crowd movement in places and areas they deemed proper.
He also announced the payment of one-month additional salary to the frontline doctors, health workers and others concerned.
After a marathon meeting of the crisis management group with the DMs, the government also decided to keep schools, colleges, other educational institutions and religious places closed till May 15. There will be no examination during the period, except those conducted by recruitment commissions, the CM said.
All parks, cinema halls, swimming pools and malls have been closed while all kinds of private and official public functions have been prohibited. Shops, fruit and vegetable mandis will close by 6pm, instead of 7pm. Dining in restaurants and dhabas has been banned but home delivery of edible items is allowed till 9pm, Nitish said.
He said the number of persons attending the burial and funeral ceremonies has been pruned to 25, while only 100 persons will now be allowed to participate in the marriage and ‘shraddh' ceremonies.
The CM said essential services like transport, banking, health and fire services have been spared. Similarly, e-commerce and activities at industrial centres will continue unencumbered.
“The situation will be monitored daily for taking the necessary decisions further,” the CM said, adding that the state recorded 8,690 coronavirus cases on Sunday, which was the highest single-day count.
“The decisions are based on the talks we held with leaders of political parties on Saturday as well as the information shared by the DMs of different districts during the over four-hour meeting we held through videoconferencing today,” he added.
The DMs have been asked to create containment zones in areas which throw up corona positive cases. They have also been asked to stagger the vegetable markets to newer areas in the towns to prevent overcrowding of people.
The government and non-government offices, which earlier used to close at 6pm, will now close at 5pm. The presence of the number of staff in offices will continue on the rotational basis.
The CM said detailed discussions were held with regard to migrant workers, maintenance of the supply chains of medicines and oxygen, opening and monitoring of quarantine centres at the sub-divisional level and daily monitoring of the cases of those kept in home isolation.
“If the migrant workers were willing to return to the state, they should do it early. It will help them and also the government in taking care of their needs, like creating work opportunities for them and keeping them in quarantine centres for the limited period after their testing, if the need arose,” he said.
“On Sunday, talks were also held with the Centre with regard to the oxygen supply. The testing and treatment of infected persons is of utmost importance and, accordingly, even the private hospitals have been roped in down to the sub-divisional level. The doctors at AIIMS will also give them training on the testing and treatment of the corona cases,” Nitish said, adding that the report of the RTPCR tests will be provided in time.
The CM also said the panchayati raj and urban development department will provide masks to the persons concerned and also asked people to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour and observe all the protocols required for the prevention of infection and transmission. Mass publicity drive through microphone will also be launched in the state to raise public awareness, he added.