COVID-19: Uttarakhand government allows curfew to be imposed in 13 districts

In the wake of rising coronavirus cases, the Uttarakhand government on Monday permitted the District Magistrates (DM) of all 13 districts of the state to impose curfew (not lockdown), if necessary, in their neighbourhoods to contain the spread of the infection.

"The government has given the right to impose curfew power to District Magistrates as per the requirement in their districts for the prevention of corona, however, they are not allowed to impose lockdown," Om Prakash, Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand said on Monday while issuing the guidelines.

Speaking to ANI he said, "Those coming from other states to Uttarakhand have to get registered and thermal screening of the passengers will be done at the state borders, check posts, railway stations, airports, according to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

"He said instructions have been given to the DMs that 80 percent of the people who came in contact with the corona positive person in the containment zone have to be traced within 72 hours. Moreover, the government has reduced the number of people attending cultural, social, political and religious programmes to 100 instead of 200.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand state capital Dehradun is observing weekly lockdown of all market places from today, with the exception of shops selling essential items. Presently, the state has 4,970 active cases of COVID-19 including 67,457 recoveries and 1,222 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Sunday.