UP extends ‘corona curfew’ till May 17

All educational institutions to stay shut till May 20 and may conduct online classes

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday extended the ongoing “partial corona curfew” yet again, this time by a week till 7am on May 17 in all the 75 districts of the state. All government/private educational institutions and coaching institutes will stay shut till May 20 and may conduct online classes.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced the extension at the Covid review meeting with Team-9 here.

The extension makes the ongoing corona curfew 17-day long. It began at 8pm on April 30 and will continue till 7am on May 17. It continues as the longest such restriction in the state since the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown last year.

Important and essential services, including medical facilities and medicine shops, e-commerce related activities, industrial activities, ration distribution, Covid vaccination, vegetable and fruit shops, and neighbourhood grocery shops are fully exempted from the curfew. The partial corona curfew was originally from Friday (April 30) 8pm to Tuesday (May 4) 7am. It was extended on May 3 for 48 hours till 7am on May 6. It was further extended till Monday (May 10) 7am. And now it has been extended for the third time, till the next Monday (May

17) 7am. Giving the reasons for the latest extension, the chief minister, as quoted in a government statement, said: “The statewide partial corona curfew has been giving positive results. It is helping in breaking the chain of infection. Also, the people of the state have been cooperating. Active cases have been steadily coming down. So, the government decided to extend it further till 7am on May 17.”

Currently, there are 2,33,981 active cases under treatment in the state at present, of which 1,74,892 are in home isolation, Amit Mohan Prasad, additional chief secretary (medical health and family welfare) said at a press conference on Sunday.

“As compared to April 30, the number of active cases is roughly 77,000 less now,” he added. UP has tested 42,953,900 Covid samples till now including 2,29,186 in the past 24-hours.

Of these over 1,11,000 RT PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) tests were conducted by government and private labs. “We are making efforts to raise the number of RT PCR tests in the state,” said Prasad.