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Punjab closes schools, colleges till March 31 amid Covid spike
CM orders fresh curbs, including restricting cinema hall capacity to 50% and malls to 100 besides bar on social gatherings
Clamping down on the Covid-19 surge, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered state-wide restrictions beginning from Saturday, with the closure of educational institutions till March 31 and restrictions on cinema/mall capacities.
All educational institutions, other than medical and nursing colleges, will remain closed till March 31, with restriction of 50% capacity in cinema halls and not more than 100 people in a mall at any time. He appealed to the people to keep social activity in their houses to the bare minimum for the next fortnight to break the transmission chain. Not more than 10 visitors should be entertained in homes, he urged.
Also read: Covid-19: Maharashtra announces fresh curbs, theatres to operate at 50% capacity
Malls to be closed on Sunday in 11 districts
In the 11 worst-hit districts, a complete ban has been ordered on all social gatherings and related functions, except for funerals and weddings, which will be allowed with only 20 people in attendance. This will be enforced from Sunday.
In the districts under night curfew from 9pm to 5am, the chief minister has ordered cinemas, multiplexes, restaurants and malls to remain closed on Sunday, though home deliveries will be allowed subject to night curfew. Industries and essential services shall be allowed to function.
One-hour silence every Saturday from 11am to noon
Starting next week, one hour of silence will be observed across the state every Saturday from 11am to 12 noon in memory of those who lost their lives to Covid, with no vehicle plying at this time.
In the 11 worst-hit districts of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Moga, the chief minister ordered restrictions on in-person public dealings in government offices, with citizens to be encouraged to visit offices only for essential services.
The situation will be reviewed after two weeks, Capt Amarinder Singh said, chairing a meeting of the Covid Task Force.
Testing to be ramped up to 35,000 a day
Directing health officials to ramp up testing a day to 35,000, the chief minister said focus should be on super spreaders, government employees and teachers. RAT testing should be stepped up along with RTPCR testing, he said, while directing contact tracing and testing to be taken up to 30 per positive person.
The chief minister directed the department of medical education and research to immediately complete recruitment of specialists/super-specialists.
Hospitals have been advised to restore the Covid beds and postpone elective surgeries.
Reopening educational institutions led to surge: Dr Talwar
Dr KK Talwar, who heads the state government’s expert team on Covid, said the surge in cases appeared to be the result of opening of schools and colleges, with young asymptomatic people appearing to be spreading the virus. There was no evidence as of now to show that the spike was due to the mutants, as only two cases of new strains had been found in Punjab so far.
At present, the state has 40% cases from the under 30 population, he said.
