Minister rules out lock-down or night curfew

Lucknow: Minister for finance and medical education Suresh Khanna said on Tuesday that the state government would follow union government’s guidelines with regard to fight against Covid-19 and ruled out possibilities of any lock-down or imposition of night curfew in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Minister for finance and medical education Suresh Khanna said on Tuesday that the state government would follow union government’s guidelines with regard to fight against Covid-19 and ruled out possibilities of any lock-down or imposition of night curfew in Uttar Pradesh.

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“We have other options. We have seen results of lock-down. It’s the last option. We don’t have a situation warranting a lock-down. The state government will follow the union government’s directives. There is also no proposal for imposition of night curfew,” said the minister while speaking to media persons here.

Khanna said, “Rising cases of Covid-19 are a cause of concern. Adequate precaution in accordance with government’s directives can protect us. People should follow social distancing and use masks. As of now we have to live with Covid-19.”

Giving a break-up of rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state, Khanna said other smaller states- Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka had more cases than Uttar Pradesh. He said there was need for more research about the manifold rise in the number of cases vis-à-vis the situation in February 2021.

Principal secretary, medical and health, Alok Kumar said the Covid-19 cases were rising rapidly and being reported in clusters this time. He said the number of cases had gone up manifold in the past one month while earlier it took nearly four months to touch the same figures.

Umesh Raghuvanshi,

Lucknow.