Covid curbs lifted in Noida, Ghaziabad as active cases drop below 600

The Uttar Pradesh tgovernment announced relaxations on the outdoor movement of people and on non-essential services in districts with less than 600 active cases of Covid-19.

Authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar on Sunday eased curfew-like restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 as active cases of the coronavirus disease in these districts fell below 600. The Uttar Pradesh government said earlier in the day that the “Corona curfew” has been lifted in 75 districts of the state except in Meerut, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur where the active cases of the coronavirus disease are above 600.

Police personnel screen commuters at Noida-Delhi entry gate in Sector 14A during curfew imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Noida. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

In directions issued on May 30, the state government announced relaxations on the outdoor movement of people and on non-essential services in districts with less than 600 active cases. The restrictions from the partial corona curfew, which is in prevalence from the night of April 30, get automatically lifted once the active cases in a district drop below 600, the order said.

Shops will now be allowed to open between 7am and 7pm and markets will operate for five days a week with limited customers. The weekend lockdown and night curfew from 7pm to 7am will, however, continue. Both districts may also allow weddings and funerals with limited number of people. According to the order, more than five people will not be allowed at religious places and there will be no restrictions on inter-state travel.

Restaurants and food establishments will only be allowed to deliver food. The state government, presently, has no guidelines regarding re-opening of schools, gyms, swimming pools and cinema halls.

The number of active Covid-19 cases fell below the 600-mark in Ghaziabad district on Saturday, according to the state Covid portal. The active cases for Ghaziabad stood at 573 till 9pm on Saturday and the neighbouring Gautam Budh Nagar district, under which Noida falls, had 623 such cases, according to the state Covid portal.

“The number of active cases on the portal has come down below 600 and it is likely that cases will further decline. So, ongoing restrictions may ease down soon. But people will have to observe strict adherence to Covid protocols,” Dr NK Gupta, Ghaziabad’s chief medical officer, said on Saturday.

GB Nagar district administration official said they have chalked out a plan once the restrictions are lifted. “With the figure of active cases going down, we expect that restrictions will be eased from Monday onwards. We have planned that markets will open up from 7am to 7pm. The industries and business establishments will follow all Covid protocols, while the educational institutions will remain closed. We have also decided that clubs, swimming pools and gyms will remain closed,” Suhas LY, district magistrate of GB Nagar, said.

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On Saturday, official data showed that the active Covid-19 cases or the number of patients under treatment across Uttar Pradesh fell below the 20,000-mark after a gap of two months. Data showed that 34 of the state’s 75 districts reported below 10 fresh Covid-19 cases on the day and that Banda and Kanpur Dehat recorded zero infections.

“There are 19,438 active cases in the state at present of which 11,178 are in home isolation. The number of active cases has fallen by 93.75% as compared with April 30 when there were 310,783 active cases in the state,” Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary (medical health and family welfare) said at a press conference.

UP reported 1092 fresh cases and 120 deaths on Saturday and with this, the state’s case count reached 16,97,352 and the death toll went up to 21,151.