The West Bengal government on Friday announced a series of restrictions, which includes closure of all shopping complexes, malls, beauty parlours, cinema halls, restaurants, bars, sport complexes, gyms, spas and swimming pools with immediate effect.
The decision comes at a time when the State registered a record number of infections and deaths on Friday. West Bengal on Friday registered 96 deaths and 17,411 new cases. On Thursday, the State had registered 89 deaths and 17,403 cases of infections.
“ All social/cultural/academic/entertainment related gatherings and congregations shall remain prohibited,” the notification issued by the State’s Chief Secretary said.
“Bazaars will remain open only from 7-10 a.m. in the morning and 3-5 p.m. (essential services like medical shops, medical equipment shops, grocery, etc. will remain outside the confines of the embargo),” the notification said.
The State government has also added that any violation of these orders will be liable to be proceeded against as per provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and besides legal action under the Indian Penal Code and other laws of the land will be applicable.
The order comes two days before counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021. The State government’s notification added, “All activities related to counting processes and victory rallies/procession will be guided by the guidelines already issued by the Election Commission of India”. The Election Commission has imposed a ban on victory processions and had made it mandatory for all counting agents to have to produce COVID negative certificates.
Despite a spike in the number of infections and deaths, the number of samples tested for COVID-19 has remained the same in the State. Patients with symptoms have to wait for days to get samples tested. Meanwhile, the State Health Department has empowered the principals of medical colleges and Chief Medical Officers of Health in district to increase the number of COVID-19 beds. About 200 new beds were added with the help of a private company at a sports stadium in the city.
In another important development, the State government has decided to cancel all examinations of Class XI, and for Class XII the students can write their examination in their own schools.