The Jharkhand government on Friday announced extension of the lockdown in the state by another month till July 31 as part of which relaxations given so far will remain in place but crowding at events like religious congregations and places such as malls will continue to remain suspended.
Chief secretary Sukhdev Singh late on Friday notified the orders, which read: “(The) lockdown in view of Covid-19 is extended till July 31 and all state departments and districts concerned are directed to strictly implement prescribed restrictions and advisories issued in the past.”
Chief minister Hemant Soren too announced it via his official Twitter handle. He tweeted: “We have received full support from public in our fight against Covid-19 so far; however, the fight is still unfinished. Considering the sensitivity of the situation, the state government has extended the lockdown till July 31. Relaxations given earlier will remain unchanged.”
As part of Unlock 1.0 since June 1, the Hemant government has offered relaxations in instalments by opening a slew of business establishments, intra-state mobility through cabs, ending the e-pass rule for inter-state movement and resumption of sporting arenas without spectators, among few other measures.
However, religious ceremonies, large weddings and sociopolitical-cultural programmes will continue to remain suspended till at least July 31. Similarly, schools, lodges, hostels, restaurants (dine-in), malls, cinemas and public transport (buses) will also be closed.
A senior official of the state disaster management department said safety protocols for the public, workplaces and business establishments will have to be strictly followed.
He said: “Masks will continue to be mandatory in public places; maintaining social distancing, ban on spitting in public places, restricted workforce at offices are a few key things we shall now strictly monitor.”
He added that although in the last couple of days, reports of Covid-19 cases have declined compared to over a week ago, it will still take some time for a clear-cut trend to be established.
“A few districts like Deoghar and Bokaro, which became Covid free, reported fresh cases recently. So, the government wants to exercise extra caution before completely doing away with the lockdown. Though the influx of migrant workers is down to a trickle now, there is still some floating crowd moving within the state which needs to be stabilised.”
Till Friday, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand stood at 2,294, of which 1,647 have recovered and 635 are active cases, besides 12 deaths.
