Lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir: Curfew extended in all 20 districts till May 24

With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the government has decided to extend the 'corona curfew' till 7 am, May 25. The government has decided to extend the curfew for a week in all 20 districts of the UT because of the worrisome surge in COVID-19 cases. The curfew was earlier scheduled to end on Monday.

The Department of Information and Public Relations, Jammu and Kashmir tweeted, "Corona Curfew imposed in all 20 districts of J&K till 7 am on Monday, 17/5/21 is extended till 7 am on Monday, 24/5/21. The curfew will be strict except for a few essential services."

As per the official order, the gathering permissible for marriages is reduced to 25 from 50, while essential and emergency services have been exempted from the restrictions. Police and paramilitary forces have put checkpoints on roads in all districts of the UT to curb the unnecessary movement of people.

In other news, Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 3,027 fresh COVID-19 cases that took its tally to 2,36,790 while 60 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,027, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 1,511 were from the Jammu division and 1,516 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

Jammu district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 534, followed by 379 in Srinagar and 308 in Budgam. The number of active COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir dropped to 52,001 from 52,848 on Thursday. So far, 1,81,762 patients have recovered in the union territory, the officials said.