E-Paper
After biggest spike of 749 Covid-19 cases in Bihar, lockdown imposed from July 10
All places of worship will remain closed during the period and no religious congregation will be allowed.
After a relaxation of more than a month, restrictions will once again be imposed in the state capital of Patna from July 10 for a week after the state reported 749 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. In all, Patna has a total of 1,351 Covid-19 cases till date.
Patna district magistrate, Kumar Ravi, issued an order on Wednesday in this regard under “The Bihar Epidemic Diseases, Covid-19 Regulations, 2020” after the crisis management group of the state government authorized district officials to impose restrictions after assessing the local situation. According to the order, the state capital will be under lockdown from July 10 till July 16.
The order effectively means that all offices of the Central government, its autonomous/subordinates offices and public offices (with the exception of defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities, disaster management, power generation, etc.) will remain closed during the period.
In addition to this, offices of the state government/union territory governments, their autonomous bodies, corporations, etc., (with exceptions of police, home guards, disaster administration, treasury, electricity, sanitation) as well as commercial and private establishments will also remain shut.
All places of worship will remain closed during the period and no religious congregation will be allowed.
However, for the convenience of people, different shops including ration shops (under PDS) dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and vegetables, fish will remain open between 6 am and 10 am and 4 pm to 7 pm.
In order to minimize the movement of people, the authorities will encourage and facilitate home delivery to restrict the movement of individuals outside their homes.
The order exempts banks, insurance offices and ATMS, telecommunications, delivery of all kinds of goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through e-commerce, petrol pumps, LPG, and gas retail and storage outlets, power generation, transmission and distribution units and services, capital and debt market services, electronic and print media from lockdown.
Also exempted are cold storages, ware housing services, private security services, and industrial establishments hospitality services, etc.
The DM’s order said that the step was initiated following an alarming surge in Covid-19 positive cases in the district of Patna in the last three weeks wherein the positivity rate has also been considerably high.
Elsewhere in Bihar, the West Champaran administration imposed lockdown from July 9 from 7 am till 5 pm but allowed shops to function from 11 am till 5.30 pm.
Similarly, lockdown has been enforced by the Bhagalpur administration in the urban areas besides Sultanganj, Kahalgaon and Naugachhia. The administration said that the lockdown would be enforced from 6 am on Thursday (July 9) till midnight on Monday (July 13). In Bettiah, the lockdown will continue till further orders.
Incidentally, Patna has so far reported 1,351 Covid-19 positive cases and the death of 12 people. So far 641 people have recovered from the virus. Bhagalpur has reported 693 cases of which 472 people have recovered. The district reported 50 new cases on Wednesday.
