No plan to impose lockdown or night curfew in state: CM

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said his government was not considering imposing curfews to deal with the rising Covid-19 cases

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said his government was not considering imposing curfews to deal with the rising Covid-19 cases.

HT Image

Instead, Haryana will follow directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and focus on testing, tracking and strict enforcement of Covi-19 health protocols, he said. In-person classes till grade 8, however, will remain suspended till further notice.

Khattar was in Gurugram to attend the eighth Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

Gurugram is in the midst of a surge in Covid-19 cases. On Friday, it reported 703 cases, taking its tally to 68193 . The active cases were 4,591 and the total death toll was 368. Haryana recorded 2,994 cases taking the tally to 310,504. It suffered 11 more deaths due to the disease, taking the death toll to 3,241.

Delhi, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar had ordered a night curfew between 10 pm and 5 am earlier this week. Their Covid-19 case rise had been sharp with record levels of new cases this year. With Gurugram also witnessing a rapid rise in the spread of Covid infections in the last month, there was strong apprehension among the residents that the state government could impose a similar curfew.

Khattar said the focus was on ensuring normal life continued in the cities with strict measures to control the spread of the coronavirus disease. “Both preventive and punitive measures will be taken and different strategies will be implemented that suit different cities in the state. This year, most of the patients are in home isolation, but we are also confident that the health care system will be able to manage the situation as it did last year,” he said.

The CM also said that district administrations across the state have been told to ensure safeguards such as wearing masks, social distancing, check on public and social gatherings and sanitization of public spaces is done on priority and continuously. “Vaccinations and testing are also going on smoothly and it will be further expanded,” he said.

He said that situation in various cities was being continuously monitored and there was no need for panic.

Given the surge in the Covid 19 infections, Khattar said that the government has decided that schools up to class eighth should remain closed. “There is no need for lockdown or similar measure right now and the situation is being monitored. We had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which CM’s of all the states were present and the Covid situation was discussed in detail and directions were issued as to how to manage the situation,” said Khattar.