‘No other option left’: Haryana minister Anil Vij on imposing week-long lockdown in state

The Haryana government on Sunday announced a week-long lockdown in the state beginning from May 3 till May 9, prompted by a sharp spike in the Covid-19 disease cases.

Haryana home minister Anil Vij said on Monday the state government did not want to impose a lockdown but despite their efforts, people were not adhering to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) norms in the way they were supposed to. “Due to this (non-adherence of norms), Covid-19 cases have rapidly increased. We had to impose a lockdown as there was no other option left,” Vij, who is also the state’s health minister, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On Monday, Vij also made an appeal to the state’s residents in order to ensure the lockdown is successful. (HT file photo)

On Monday, Vij also made an appeal to the state’s residents in order to ensure the lockdown is successful. “Stay at home, stay safe and defeat Covid-19,” the minister’s tweet, roughly translated from Hindi read.

The Haryana government on Sunday announced a week-long lockdown in the state beginning from May 3 till May 9, prompted by a sharp spike in the Covid-19 disease cases. The announcement came two days after a weekend curfew was announced in nine districts including Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat from Friday 10pm till Monday 5am.

According to the state government’s order, malls, shopping complexes, salons, movie theatres, educational institutions, places of worship will be closed. Dine-in is not allowed in hotels and restaurants but home deliveries are allowed till 10pm. Social gatherings, parties will only be held as per the permission given by the deputy commissioners.

Only those weddings for which prior permission has been taken from the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) are allowed during the lockdown with not more than 30 people indoors and 50 people outdoors.

All essential services including health, law and order, fire and other emergency services have been exempted from the lockdown. Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services are allowed to operate with 50 per cent workforce. Shops selling groceries, dairy and milk booths, medicines are allowed to be kept open. There are no restrictions placed on industries engaged in the production of essential goods.

Haryana on Sunday recorded the highest single day jump in Covid-19 deaths at 145, while 13,322 more people tested positive, according to the state health department’s bulletin. The infection count in Haryana has now climbed to 514,888 including 4,486 deaths, 105,270 active cases and 405,132 recoveries, the bulletin showed.