As Covid-19 cases rise, Uttar Pradesh shuts schools, limits entry to religious places

The state government has also directed that only 50% employees should attend offices in the four most affected towns

Uttar Pradesh government announced new restrictions as surge in Covid positive cases continued unabated with over 15,000 cases being reported in the state in the past 24-hours.

According to the official sources here 15,353 Covid positive cases were reported from different parts in the state in the past 24-hours taking the total number of active cases in the state to 71,214.

The state had reported 12,780 positive cases on Saturday. The number has almost doubled in the past five days.

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Sources said that over 85 lakh people had so far been vaccinated against Covid 19 in the state.

The state government has ordered the closure of all schools from 1st to 12th standard till April 30 in view of the rising number of cases. The government has, however, allowed them to conduct pre-scheduled examinations.

An all-party meeting was convened by the state governor Anandiben Patel at Rajbhavan to discuss the situation and formulate an effective strategy to prevent the infection from spreading.

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Night curfew had already been imposed around dozen towns including Lucknow, Noida, Bareilly, Moradabad, Jhansi, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Kanpur and Varanasi.

The government has also banned the entry of more than five people at a time at religious places in the state. The state government has also directed that only 50 per cent employees should attend offices in the four most affected towns.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the number of beds in the ICUs at different hospitals, which have been designated as Covid centres, were being increased to cope up with the influx of patients.