Punjab lifts weekend, night curfew; opens bars, cinema halls
Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Jul, 2021 11:37 AM
With the state's Covid-19 positivity rate sliding to 0.4 per cent, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered lifting of weekend and night curfew, and allowed gatherings of 100 persons indoors and 200 outdoors from Monday.
At the same time, he directed the Director General of Police to fine all political leaders violating Covid behavior rules while holding rallies and protest meetings.
Even as he hoped that better sense will prevail on the political parties and leaders brazenly violating curbs by holding massive protests, he asked DGP Dinkar Gupta to issue challans against those indulging in anti-Covid behaviour.
The Chief Minister also ordered opening of bars, cinema halls, restaurants, spas, swimming pools, gyms, malls, sports complexes, museums, zoos, etc., subject to all eligible staff members and visitors having taken at least one dose each of the vaccine.
Though schools will continue to remain closed, colleges, coaching centres and all other institutions of higher learning will be allowed to open by the Deputy Commissioner concerned, subject to a certificate having been submitted that all teaching, non-teaching staff, and students have been given at least one dose of vaccination, at least two weeks ago.
The Chief Minister, while reviewing the Covid situation virtually, said the situation will again be reviewed on July 20. Strict use of masks must be ensured at all times, he directed, while announcing the easing of restrictions.
Heath Secretary Hussan Lal said four districts had shown positivity of one or less than one per cent, but the districts that still needed vigilance were Ludhiana, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, and Ropar.
Referring to the cases of black fungus, which has been reported in 623 patients as of July 8, the Chief Minister asked the Health Department to work out a proposal for supporting and helping in the treatment of such patients.
Of the 623 cases, 67 are from outside the state, the Health Secretary informed the meeting, adding that 337 cases were under treatment and 154 had been discharged while 51 patients had died.
The maximum cases reported in a day were 34 on May 27, while the average of daily cases in the first week of July stood at 5.
After Upendra Kushwaha and Sanjay Singh, Umesh Thakur, the Siwan district president of the JD-U, jumped into the fray and said that Pandey has a long criminal history. He had also molested a young girl in a train.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
