PremiumAmid surge in novel coronavirus cases in Himachal Pradesh, the Lahaul & Spiti District Administration on Sunday announced a continuation of restrictions till 6 am on May 17 with only essential services, shops to open as per guidelines.
The order also stated that private vehicles were to be allowed for only medical emergencies including COVID-19 testing and vaccination.
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Premium Premium On Saturday, Himachal Pradesh government has decided to suspend public transport from Monday to check the spread of COVID-19, an official spokesperson said.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday, he said.
It was also decided that the daily needs and essential commodity shops will remain open only for three hours in a day and timing of the same will be fixed by the deputy commissioners concerned, the spokesperson said.
Coronavirus curfew is already in force in the state from May 7-17.
These strict restrictions of suspending public transport and opening essential commodities shops only for three hours a day will come into force on May 10 from 6 am, the spokesperson said.
All public transport will remain suspended till further orders and private vehicles will only be allowed in case of emergency services, he added.
Chief Minister Thakur said these decisions have been taken to break the chain of virus.
He urged people to give their wholehearted support in effective implementation of coronavirus curfew to combat COVID-19 threat.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh on Saturday recorded its sharpest single-day spike of 5,424 COVID-19 cases that took the infection tally to 1,28,330 while 37 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,817, a senior official said.
According to data updated till 7 pm, 18,725 samples were tested for COVID-19. The state has a positivity rate of 28.97 per cent.
Himachal Pradesh has 31,893 active COVID-19 cases, the official said.
As many as 3,007 more coronavirus patients recovered from the infection, taking the total number of recoveries to 94,586, he said.
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