Uttar Pradesh government relaxes Covid-19 lockdown

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended relaxation in Covid-19 restrictions to all 75 districts of the state, with the active cases coming down the 600-mark in each of these districts.

The night curfew from 7 pm to 7 am and weekend curfew (for the entire day) will, however, continue throughout the state, an official spokesman said.

By Monday, the relaxation was extended to 72 districts barring Meerut, Lucknow and Gorakhpur.

"There will be relaxation in coronavirus curfew in all the districts of the state from Wednesday onwards, from 7 am to 7 pm, for five days as the active Covid-19 cases have come below 600," the spokesman said.

In a high-level meeting convened through a virtual medium on Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the Covid-19-19 situation and decided to give the relaxations in the Covid-19 curfew.

The spokesman said in view of the decreasing infection rate, a standard of 600 active cases was set for having coronavirus curfew effective in the districts.

"Only 797 new cases were reported in the state in the past 24 hours. Now, there are 14,000 active cases in the state," he said.

"On Monday, 2.85 lakh Covid-19 tests were done. The positivity rate of the state is 0.2 per cent, while the recovery rate has gone up to 97.9 per cent," he added.

In an order issued in this regard by Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said the curfew will be relaxed as per the conditions mentioned in the government order issued on May 30 by Chief Secretary R K Tiwari.

According to the order issued by Tiwari, shops and markets outside containment zones would be allowed to open for five days (Monday to Friday).

Instructions were issued that over the weekend, cleanliness, sanitisation and fogging campaigns will be carried out.

Shopkeepers and their employees will have to wear masks, maintain two-yard distance with each other and customers, and ensure the arrangement of hand sanitisers.

While there would be full attendance for frontline workers, for the rest of the government employees, there would be 50 per cent attendance on rotation. A Covid-19-19 help desk must also be established at all offices.

The private sector has been asked to encourage the employees to work from home.

According to the order, industrial units will stay open while vegetable markets in the densely populated areas will function in open places.

At railway stations, airports and bus stands, all Covid-19-19 protocols have to be followed. Screening of passengers and antigen tests have to be conducted. The roadways buses have been allowed to operate within the state.

Schools, colleges and educational institutes will remain closed while teachers and other staff have been allowed to come to school for administrative work.

Not more than five devotees will be allowed inside a religious place at a time. Coaching centres, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, clubs and shopping malls will remain closed, it said.

A maximum of 20 people will be allowed at a funeral procession, it added.