Covid-19 curfew relaxed in 3 more districts of Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government has relaxed the Covid-19 curfew in districts where the number of active Covid-19 caseload is less than 600.

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday relaxed the Covid-19 curfew in Lakhimpur, Ghazipur and Jaunpur, taking the number of districts where restrictions have been eased outside containment zones to 64. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath with senior state government officials.

The relaxations in Covid-19 curfew were announced on Sunday in 55 districts of Uttar Pradesh and which has now been increased to 64, a senior official said. (Bloomberg Photo)

The government has relaxed the Covid-19 curfew in districts where the number of active Covid-19 caseload is less than 600. On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government announced lifting of restrictions in 55 such districts and on Monday, Sonbhadra, Deoria, Baghpat, Prayagraj, Bijnore and Moradabad were added to the list.

"The relaxations from corona curfew were announced on Sunday in 55 districts which has now been increased to 64. As with the latest report, active cases have come down below 600 in three more districts Lakhimpur, Ghazipur and Jaunpur and they will also be given relaxations from Wednesday 7am," additional chief secretary (information) Navneet Sehgal said, according to news agency PTI.

There will be no relaxation in Meerut, Lucknow, Saharanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr and Jhansi districts which have more than 600 active Covid-19 cases.

The announcement of relaxations have come for the first time since the partial curfew was introduced on April 30. It was extended several times thereafter with the last extension on May 31.

The weekend curfew on Saturdays and Sundays and the night curfew from 7pm to 7am will continue statewide as before and there will be no easing of the curbs in any of the containment zones in the state. All markets and shops outside containment zones will be allowed to open from Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm in all these districts.

Shopping malls, cinema halls, coaching institutes, swimming pools and bars will stay closed across the state till further orders. But restaurants can operate for home deliveries across the state. All districts have been allowed to roadside eateries on highways and expressways, carts and kiosks to function, according to the government statement.

The number of active cases of the coronavirus disease stands at 37,044 in the state, according to an official statement on Monday. Uttar Pradesh’s Covid-19 caseload stands at 1,691,488 and its death toll at 20,497.