Night curfew extended to four more UP cities
LUCKNOW/MEERUT/GORAKHPUR: As Covid-19 continues to spread its tentacles, the state government on Thursday decided to extend night curfew to four more districts namely Meerut, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Bareilly. Night curfew was announced in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Kanpur districts late on Wednesday night.
While the night curfew will remain in effect from 10 pm to 5 am in Meerut, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad till April 17, the duration will be from 9pm to 6am in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur and Bareilly districts. The district authorities have confirmed imposition of the night curfew in the four districts from Friday.
Uttar Pradesh reported 39 more Covid deaths on Thursday pushing the toll to 9,003 since the start of the pandemic in March last year, while 8,490 new cases took the infection tally to 6,54,404, a senior official said.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is currently campaigning in West Bengal issued instructions to increase the number of beds reserved for the coronavirus patients in all the government as well as private hospitals. This will improve the bed availability for the patients. As for now, around 278 beds will be increased in the govern
ment and private hospitals along with the specialised medical institutions.
“In the level two and three Covid-19 hospitals of the state, the ICU has around 4,333 beds, which will now be increased to 4611. Along with this, number of isolation beds will be increased from 11,811 beds to approximately 16,422 beds in the government and private hospitals,” said the officials.
“The total number of active cases is 39,338 while the patients treated and discharged is now 6,06,063,” additional chief secretary, heath, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters.
Prasad further said 50% of the Covid cases were being reported from Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Kanpur districts. The district authorities have been directed to enforce Covid protocol strictly.
Earlier the chief minister had directed the DMs of the districts having over 500 active cases and more than 100 fresh cases daily to take measures, including night curfew, restrictions and closure of educational institutions, to check the spread of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, divisional commissioner, Meerut, Surendra Singh said the decision to impose night curfew was taken after reviewing the Covid situation in the three districts of the division. The situation in the three districts would be reviewed again after April 17, he added.
Meerut district magistrate K Balaji said the night curfew would not affect essential and medical services.
A surge in Sars-CoV-2 infection cases has been observed in Meerut as 611 people tested positive in the district in past 10 days. The district is on the top among nine districts of Meerut and Saharanpur divisions with 649 active cases till April 6 and 443 deaths so far.
A preliminary survey of the health department shows that during the ongoing second Covid-19 wave in April, 214 people in 20-44 age group, 103 people in 45-59 age group and 90 people in 60 and above age group have tested positive .
The other districts in which surge in the Covid cases has been witnessed include Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Agra, Saharanpur and Moradabad. The DMs of these districts said they were holding meetings with traders and social organisations and that the decision to impose restrictions will be taken after the review meetings.
A state government spokesperson said there will be no restrictions in the essential services, medical services, movement of goods, travel of the people to airports, railway and bus stations, sanitation and construction works. Also, vegetable and fruit markets will open according to the schedule fixed by the Mandi Parishad, he said.
Unnerved by the growing cases of Covid-19, the government swung into action to improve its infrastructure from ambulances to beds.
Meanwhile, Gorakhpur DM K Vijyendra Pandian has said no night curfew will be imposed in Gorakhpur.
He held a meeting with traders’ organizations on Thursday in which office bearers of all organisations said they will voluntarily close their establishments at 10 pm. The administration has decided to implement Covid protocol strictly and monitor Covid cases for two days. If the surge continues fresh decision will be taken accordingly, he said.