Bihar wears deserted look as state enters 16-day lockdown

Streets in most parts of Bihar wore a deserted look as the state entered a 16-day lockdown on Thursday. However, the vehicular movement in Muzaffarpur was seen as usual, despite the strict norms.

The lockdown is being observed in Bihar after the state government announced it as a necessary step to combat the spread of COVID-19.

The Bihar government, on July 14, had announced that it will reinforce lockdown in the state from July 16 to July 31 in view of rising COVID-19 cases. The government had stated that essential services will continue during the period and farming and construction-related activities will also be allowed.

A state government release said that there is "an alarming surge" in COVID-19 cases in the State of Bihar in the last three weeks and the positivity rate has also been considerably high.

The places of worship, commercial and private and government establishments remain closed in the state.

Following the government guidelines, while the offices of the central government and its subordinate/autonomous offices remain closed, services like defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), disaster management, power generation and transmission units, post offices, National Informatics Centre, early warning agencies were exempted from the lockdown.

As per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bihar has a total of 20,612 cases including 13,462 recovered cases while 180 persons have lost their lives due to the virus.

( With inputs from ANI )