LUCKNOW: From a Sunday lockdown, the state has now moved to weekend curfew. On Tuesday, after successfully challenging Allahabad High Court’s closure order in five districts of UP, the state government decided to impose curfew on Saturday and Sunday in all districts of the state till May 15. The weekend lockdown will be in place from 8 pm on Friday to 7 am on Monday.
The government also raised the duration of night curfew by two hours (8pm-7am) in districts, which have more than 500 active cases. “Currently, night curfew from 8 pm to 7 am is clamped in those districts, where active cases are more than 2,000. For other districts where active cases are below 2,000, the curfew is in place from 9 pm to 6 am. Now there will be uniform night curfew across all sensitive districts,” said a government spokesperson.
Till Tuesday night, there were 69 districts where active cases were more than 500. Of the remaining six, three had more than 400 cases, including Shrawasti with 433 active cases, Mahoba with 420 active cases and Baghpat with 424 active cases.
During the weekend curfew, the government will allow industrial activity, weddings, examinations and essential services. Continuous process industries and those involved with manufacturing sanitisers, medical equipment and masks will be allowed to function and movement of workers will be allowed.
The government also permitted marriages, subject to restrictions. A ceremony in the open can be attended by a maximum of 100 persons while a maximum of 50 persons will be allowed in closed areas on the condition that Covid protocols were followed. For funeral services at cremation and burial grounds, the government allowed a maximum of 20 persons. Public transport, particularly state-run buses will be allowed to play with 50% capacity.