Nashik relaxes curbs

On a day when 1,222 new Covid-19 cases were reported, the Nashik district collector Suraj Mandhare on Saturday has announced relaxation in complete lockdown restrictions from May 24 in the district. However, he has clarified that the imposition of stringent curbs introduced by the state government under the BreaktheChain order will continue to be in place till 7 am on June 1. Mandhare said the complete lockdown imposed from May 12 has yielded positive results as the active cases reduced to 16,000 from 35,000. He clarified that 16,000 cases were the peak that the district had reported last year. He, however, urged the citizens to observe Covid Appropriate Behavior in order to further reduce the cases. The vegetable vendors can operate from the allotted sites by the local administration from 7 am to 11 am without crowding. Weekly markets continue to remain shut. The milk sale will continue while wedding ceremonies will be prohibited but registered marriages are allowed in the presence of only five people. The industrial units will function by observing Covid19 norms but they will have to provide identity card to their employees as it will be binding while travelling. The RT-PCR or rapid antigen test by keeping the margin of 15 days is mandatory for those entering the industrial units. Further, they will have to organize vaccination of all employees as per the availability of vaccine doses.