Polls Over, Now West Bengal Enters Lockdown Mode

A day after the month-long assembly elections concluded in West Bengal, the state entered into a lockdown mode on Friday.

Issuing a notification, the chief secretary ordered that all shopping complexes, malls, beauty parlours cinema halls, restaurants and bars, sports complexes, gyms, spas, and swimming pools shall remain closed until further order. 

Home deliveries and online services have been exempted during the lockdown.

The state has also prohibited all social, cultural, academic, or entertainment-related gatherings, while markets will remain open only from 7 am to 10 am and 3 pm to 5 pm. 

These decisions were taken in the wake of a massive spike in Covid-19 cases in the state over the past month.  

On April 30, the state recorded 17,411 new cases and 96 deaths. The day before, there were 17,403 cases and 89 deaths. 

The situation is the worst in Kolkata, which has recorded 25,971 in the last seven days. 

Though government hospitals have not yet run out of beds, most private hospitals in the city had their capacity saturated. The government has asked private hospitals to reserve 60% of the beds for Covid-19 patients.   

Amid rising Covid cases, the counting of the elections will take place on Sunday. The Friday order by the chief secretary also “discouraged” “unnecessary congregation” around the counting centres.  

The election commission of India has already banned victory rallies.