E-Paper
Bihar extends lockdown till May 25, test positivity rate dips to 8.9%
On May 4, the Crisis Management Group of the Bihar government had decided to impose a lockdown in the state, from May 5-15, amid a rise in daily Covid-19 cases. According to a Bihar health department bulletin on May 13, the state recorded 7,752 positive cases on Wednesday, the reports of which came on Thursday.
The Bihar government on Thursday extended the lockdown for another 10 days, from May 16 till May 25, after reviewing the positive impact that the lockdown had on the state between May 5 and May 15.
An announcement to this effect was made by chief minister Nitish Kumar through social media platform Twitter. “Reviewed the ongoing lockdown in Bihar with ministerial colleagues and officials. We can see that the lockdown is having a positive impact. Therefore, we have decided to extend the lockdown in the state for 10 days, from May 16-25, 2021,” a rough translation of Kumar’s tweet, posted in Hindi, read.
On May 4, the Crisis Management Group of the Bihar government had decided to impose a lockdown in the state, from May 5-15, amid a rise in daily Covid-19 cases.
“The lockdown is showing desired results. After taking the opinion of the district magistrates, it was decided by the Crisis Management Group to extend the lockdown for 10 more days till May 25,” said chief secretary Tripurari Sharan.
According to a Bihar health department bulletin on May 13, the state recorded 7,752 positive cases on Wednesday, the reports of which came on Thursday.
“During this period, the state government has modified its earlier order by advancing the timings for opening different shops. Now the shops selling milk, vegetables, non-vegetarian items and other essential commodities will open from 6 am till 10 am in urban areas and from 8 am till 12 noon in rural areas,” said additional chief secretary (home) Chaitanya Prasad. Earlier, these shops were opening from 7 am till 11 am.
The government has also revised the number of guests for marriages from 50 to 20 only. “All other restrictions enforced earlier will remain in place,” said Prasad.
The 11-day lockdown has brought some relief for the Bihar government which was facing all-round flak following shortage of beds in hospitals, irregular oxygen supply, shortage of medicines, exorbitant prices being charged by ambulances, etc.
“The positivity rate which stood at 15.7% on May 2 has come down to 8.9% on May 12,” said additional chief secretary (health) Pratyaya Amrit.
Similarly, there has been a steady fall in the number of positive cases – from 14,436 on May 4 to 7,752 on May 12 while the recovery rate has also improved from 78.38% on May 5 to 83.43% on May 12.
According to the health department sources, in the last one week, the number of new infections has grown by an average of 2.1% every day.
