Night curfew in UP districts witnessing surge in COVID cases, schools temporarily shut

As Uttar Pradesh reported 15,353 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, the highest single-day spike in the state this year, the Yogi Adityanath government acted promptly to impose night curfew in all districts with more than 500 active Covid-19 cases and also ordered closure of schools and coaching from class 1 to 12 in the state till April 30.

Governor Anandiben Patel convened an all-party meeting at the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow on Sunday and discussed the COVID-19 situation. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also present at the meeting.

Fresh restrictions including imposing night curfew in districts and closure of schools were announced

The Uttar Pradesh government has also issued fresh guidelines for the upcoming panchayat elections. The candidates have been ordered to hold not more than five public rallies in a day.

It also announced night curfew in all districts with over 100 daily cases or with more than 500 active COVID-19 cases.

With 15,353 new Covid-19 infections reported today in the state, the caseload in Uttar Pradesh climbed to 6,92,092. The active Covid-19 cases in the state stands at 71,241. while 6,11,622 patients have recovered from the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry also informed that UP is among the ten states which have contributed nearly 81 per cent of the 152,879 cases registered by the country in the last 24 hours.

Earlier on Saturday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officers to ensure that no more than five people are allowed to enter the religious places at a time.

Apart from this, the government has directed all government offices to have a COVID-19 helpdesk for effective control of the Covid pandemic.

Regular functioning of the Allahabad High Court will take place through the virtual mode from Monday amid the rise in the COVID cases.

Meanwhile, the four-day 'Tika Utsav' commenced in the state on Sunday,

The CM said that the state government is running the vaccination drive across 6,000 centers, urging eligible people to join the campaign.

Speaking to during his visit to Shakti Bhawan to inspect preparedness for Tika Utsav, the Chief Minister said, "Eligible people should join four-day Tika Utsav. People above 45 can register themselves at their nearby vaccination centers to be part of the campaign. We are running vaccination drive at 6,000 centers."

As many as 85,15,296 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the state so far.

The state government has also decided to conduct at least 1 lakh RT-PCR tests daily to identify people who have contracted the infection.

( With inputs from ANI )