Noida, Ghaziabad extend night curfew hours amid surge in Covid-19 cases, state board exams deferred

Ghaziabad/Noida: Amid an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases, the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday extended the night curfew hours in 10 worst-hit districts, including Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, and also deferred the state board exams till May 15

Ghaziabad/Noida: Amid an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases, the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday extended the night curfew hours in 10 worst-hit districts, including Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, and also deferred the state board exams till May 15. District administrations of Ghaziabad and GB Nagar said that they have extended the timing of night restrictions, which will be now from 8pm to 7am, till further orders.

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Earlier, the night restrictions were from 10pm to 5am till April 17 in the two districts.

The directions were issued by UP chief minister for districts having more than 2,000 active cases, and included districts like Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Meerut, among others, the officials said.

“The night restrictions will come with immediate effect from 8pm to 7am. This will help us restrict movement of public further. A major proportion of the police force was also deployed for panchayat elections. But the voting was done on Thursday and the police will now be deployed fully to enforce night restrictions and taking up enforcement,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.

“Anyone, other than those involved in essential services, will be acted upon in case they violate night restriction timing and other Covid protocols. We will soon take a decision on curbs on weekly markets as well,” he added.

The government has also ordered for the closure of all schools in the state till May 15, besides deferring the state board examinations for classes 10 and 12. The UP Board examinations were scheduled to start from May 8.

“The new dates for the examinations will be decided in the first week of May after reviewing the Covid-19 situation. For students of classes 1 to 12, offline teaching will remain suspended till May 15 and no examination will take place during this period,” Suhas LY, GB Nagar district magistrate, said, adding that the night curfew restrictions will now begin from 8pm and end at 7am.

“It has also been decided to conduct massive random sampling on Noida-Delhi borders from Friday,” he said.

Meanwhile, with addition of 538 fresh cases on Thursday, Ghaziabad’s overall tally of infected patients crossed 29,000 and stood at 29,375, which included 104 deaths. Now, the district has 1,723 active cases, according to the state’s daily health bulletin.

The members of the traders’ associations said that extension of night curfew timing is vital in present times in order to save lives and check any further spread of infection. “The extended timing of night restrictions would mean that shops, offices and other establishments will close down by 7.30pm. We have also conveyed to our members to fully abide by the new directions. We have also asked our members not to entertain customers coming to shops without wearing mask,” said Pradeep Gupta, convener of Vyapari Ekta Samiti – Indirapuram.

On Thursday, GB Nagar reported 489 new Covid-19 cases, while one person died due to the infection, according to the state’s daily health bulletin. With fresh cases, the overall tally of infected patients in the district has reached 28,928, which include 2,334 active cases and 98 deaths.

The GB Nagar DM said that strict measures are being taken in the crowded areas. “On the basis of the reports, main market of Dankaur and vegetable market of Kasna were sealed on Thursday afternoon for 24 hours by the incident commander concerned. We are also checking the safety measures by different industrial and commercial units in the district,” he said.

Meanwhile, the sample positivity rate has further gone up in Ghaziabad. According to figures of the district health department, the sample positivity went up to 2.8% on April 15 with 2,084 test reports turning positive of the total 74,441 in April. The 2.8% positivity rate is the highest since December when it was 2.99%, the officials said. Sample positivity rate refers to the number of samples testing positive per 100 samples tested.

“The positivity rate will increase further as spread of infection is on the rise. By extending the night restriction timing, the administration has taken a right step in putting more curbs on movement of public. In present times, the public should also consider that taking all precautions is of utmost importance,” said Dr VB Jindal, former president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad).

On April 13 while hearing a PIL, the Allahabad high court in an order said that we need to ensure that there is no unnecessary public movement even during day timings. “We need to restrict public movement at least for a week or 10 days to break the chain... We understand that complete lockdown for weeks together may not be feasible, but looking at the current surge of pandemic, we direct the government to look into the viability of complete lockdown in those districts where spread has increased alarmingly, for at least two weeks or three weeks and at least immediately all public gatherings must be restricted to 50 persons,” the high court said in its order.

Meanwhile, Thakur Dhirendra Singh, the BJP MLA from Jewar, tested Covid-19 positive on Thursday. “As per the doctor’s suggestions, I’ve opted for home isolation at my farmhouse,” he said.