Covid-19: Nitish Kumar orders night curfew in Bihar, cancels Samaj Sudhar Yatra

Covid-19 surge: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who imposed fresh restrictions after a meeting of the crisis management group, decided not to continue with the Samaj Sudhar Yatra that was scheduled to continue till January 15.

PATNA: The Bihar government on Tuesday decided to impose night curfew from 10pm till 5am with effect from January 6 for a fortnight till January 21, and shut down parks, gyms, swimming pools and malls in the state in view of rising cases of Covid-19 in the state.

Covid-19 surge: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar holds a review meeting of crisis management group in view of the increase in Covid-19 cases in the state. Apart from other restrictions, Nitish Kumar also cancelled his Samaj Sudhar Yatra (socia reforms campaign) (HT Photo/Santosh Kumar)

Chief minister Nitish Kumar also decided to cancel his ongoing Samaj Sudhar Yatra (social reforms campaign) - it started on December 22 and was scheduled to conclude on January 15 - and the weekly Janata Darbar . On Monday, 11 people at the chief minister’s weekly town hall meeting tested positive for Covid-19. They included six people who had come for grievance redressal and five members of the catering staff.

The decisions were taken at the crisis management group (CMG) meeting chaired by chief Nitish Kumar late Tuesday evening.

The meeting, however, decided against imposing lockdown.

The state reported 893 new infections on Tuesday, more than double the cases reported the previous day , taking the number of active cases to 2,222, said officials. Patna reported 565 cases.

The state government, which had already announced closure of schools up to classes 8, has decided to continue classes for students of class 9 to 12 with 50% attendance. Schools have been allowed to continue online teaching for students up to class 8. The government has also ordered coaching institutes not to hold in-person classes, and capped attendance in government and private offices at 50% . Visitors have been barred from entering office premises.

The government has also closed religious places to devotees and told hotels and restaurants to operate with 50% capacity and put a cap of 50 people for weddings and 20 persons at funerals. All shops have been told to close by 8 pm.

The government has allowed social, religious, cultural functions with 50% capacity with an upper limit of 50 people.

On Tuesday, the ruling JD (U) shut its office after five office staffers tested positive. The JD(U) national president and MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh has also tested positive.