COVID-19: Uttar Pradesh weekend lockdown and night curfew - what's allowed, what's not

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, a weekend lockdown will be observed in Uttar Pradesh till 7 am, April 26 (Monday). The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that the weekend lockdown will remain imposed till May 15. The weekend lockdown, which came in addition to the already imposed night curfew, will start from April 23, Friday 8 pm, and will remain in force till April 26, Monday 7 am.

The Uttar Pradesh government also increased the night curfew timings by two hours for districts where there are over 500 active cases of COVID-19. The night curfew will now start at 8 pm and will continue till 7 am. Currently, those districts where active COVID-19 cases are more than 2,000, the night curfew timings are from 8 pm to 7 am.

For other districts where active cases are below 2,000, the night curfew is in place from 9 pm to 6 am. Now there will be a uniform night curfew across all sensitive districts.

The order comes at a time when the Allahabad High Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to impose strict restrictions including the closing of malls, shopping complexes, and restaurants till April 26 in the five cities - Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur. However, the HC stopped short of calling it a 'complete lockdown'.

A fine of Rs 1,000 will be imposed if someone is caught without a mask for the first time. If caught for the second time, Rs 10,000 fine amount will be imposed.

What's Allowed

Essential and Medical emergency services.

Wedding (with a cap of 100 people, 50 people in closed areas) and funeral (with a cap of 20 people) services.

Scheduled examinations.

Movement of people involved in the sanitiser and medical equipment manufacture.

Industrial activities.

Public transport, particularly state-run buses will be allowed to run with 50% capacity.

What's not allowed

All markets, commercial institutions, offices will remain closed.