Night curfew in Himachal Pradesh: The government imposed restrictions on meetings until December 15.
Chandigarh:
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to impose restrictions on gatherings and movement, including a night curfew until December 15, in light of the increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the state.
On Monday, the Himachal Pradesh cabinet, led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, decided to impose a nightly curfew in Shimla, Mandi, Kullu and Kangra districts from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for everyone except those involved in the provision of essential services.
Schools have been ordered to be closed until December 31, but online classes will begin on November 26. In view of the pandemic, students in classes 1 to 4 and classes 6 and 7 would be promoted in accordance with the right to education provision. 2009 law.
The final exam for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11 will be held for all schools in March of next year. Board exams for classes 10 and 12 would also be held concurrently with a 30% relaxation in the state board syllabus.
All political rallies and even public grievance redress meetings (Jan Manch) have been suspended. All government offices have been ordered to operate with 50 percent of the workforce, in rotation, until the end of December.
No more than 200 people can be allowed to gather for outdoor functions, and social distancing would be a must. Even the elections to four municipal corporations would now take place in March-April next year.
The fine for not wearing a mask in public places has also been increased to 1,000 rupees.
The importance of safe Covid behavior, such as wearing masks and social distancing, was underscored when a Himachal man managed to avoid COVID-19 even as his entire village in the Lahaul-Spiti district tested positive.
“The main reason I got negative results was that I wear a mask and disinfectant and maintain social distancing,” said Bhushan Thakur, 52, from Thorang village.
Himachal Pradesh has recorded a total of 34,327 coronavirus cases with 537 deaths so far.
Although these figures are among the lowest in India, the state has seen a 72 percent increase in Covid-related deaths in November so far, the highest in the country, data analyzed by NDTV shows.
Himachal Pradesh is also among the top 5 states with the highest percentage increase in active cases in November: 143% with an addition of 4,143 coronavirus infections so far this month.
Alarmed by the increase in active cases, the central government has also sent teams of high-level experts to Himachal Pradesh, as well as to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
Previously, high-level teams were sent to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. Some of these states have also imposed a night curfew, while others have urged people to follow rules that, in the event of non-compliance, partial closures could be imposed.
Although India’s overall coronavirus numbers have been falling steadily since September’s surge, some smaller states have seen an unusual rise in daily cases and deaths.
India’s coronavirus count has passed the 91 lakh mark today and COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.3 lakh lives so far.
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