Covid restrictions till Sept 30; night curbs to remain
Kolkata: The Bengal government on Wednesday extended the Covid restrictions for another fortnight till September 30. The restrictions on suburban train services will also continue.
"All outdoor activities including movement of people and vehicles shall be strictly prohibited between 11 pm to 5 am except for health services, law and order, essential commodities, including agriculture produce and other emergency services," the order said.
By imposing restrictions, creating awareness on the use of masks and taking all necessary measures for better treatment of Covid patients, the state government has brought down the positivity rate to nearly 1 per cent that had gone up to 33 per cent during the eight-phase Assembly polls.
The restrictions have been extended with directions to employers, management bodies and supervisors of all offices to follow all Covid safety measures, including regular sanitisation of workplaces and vaccination of employees.
District administration, Police Commissionerates and local authorities shall ensure strict compliance with the pandemic protocols. Stress has been given on creating awareness among people on the use of masks, even if one has received both the vaccine doses. Maintenance of physical distancing and health and hygiene also has to be ensured.
The district authorities have been directed to take action as per the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005 and the Indian Penal Code if there is any violation of Covid protocols.
The direction issued by the State Secretariat, Nabanna, also encouraged work from home as far as possible.
Sources added that the police were separately informed to ensure naka checking and patrolling for proper implementation of restrictions on outdoor activities from 11 pm to 5 am. Similarly, the district administration also has to take necessary steps to check heavy gathering at market areas where there are possibilities of massive turnout ahead of Durga Puja.
Meanwhile, daily new cases in India continued to remain below 30,000 with the country recording 27,176 fresh infections while 284 new fatalities were recorded, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Wednesday.
With the fresh cases, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,33,16,755, while the death toll has climbed to 4,43,497, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The active cases declined to 3,51,087 comprising 1.05 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.62 per cent, the ministry added.
India has so far not seen Mu and C.1.2, the two new variants of SARS-CoV2, and the Delta variant and its sub-lineages continue to the main Variants of Concern in the country, INSACOG, the genome sequencing consortium, has said.
