The Jharkhand government on Tuesday extended the partial lockdown, also known as Health Safety Week, till June 10, 6 am but announced a number of relaxations in travel and trade.
All the 24 districts have been split into two categories on the basis of Covid-19 infections to allow business activities as part of the unlocking process.
It also scrapped mandatory e-permits for intra and inter-district movements, thereby allowing free access to people in their individual vehicles but ban on public buses will continue to be in force.
As many as nine districts have been placed under the high infection category. They include Bokaro, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur (East Singbhum), Deoghar, Hazaribag, Garhwa, Gumla and Ramgarh. “In these districts, shops related to jewellery, garments and footwear sector will remain closed and remaining all will be functional,” informed an official following a meeting of the state disaster management authority (SDMA) chaired by chief minister Hemant Soren.
In the remaining 15 districts, all kinds of shops will be allowed to function. However, malls and multi-brand shops will continue to remain shut. “All shops across the state will only be allowed to operate only till 2 pm,” read the official note.
All other curbs announced earlier such as closure of educational institutions, social & religious gatherings, avenues of amusement & entertainment, dine-ins at restaurants among others remain unchanged.
Notably, the government first began lockdown on April 22 and went on to gradually increase the curbs in form of extensions. The current phase of the partial lockdown was due to expire on June 3. But considering the dip in overall covid-19 cases and fatalities across the state, government has begun the unlocking process in a phased manner to support livelihood.
Covid toll touches 5,000
The Covid toll in Jharkhand reached 5,000 as at least nine more patients died during treatment on Tuesday. The active caseload, however, dropped further down in the state as at least 1,449 patients recovered from the infection while 609 people were found infected on the day, stated a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM). As per the bulletin, as many as 8053 state residents were battling the viral infection by the end of Tuesday.
East Singhbum on Tuesday reported 113 fresh cases of infection, the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand. The district also reported three of the nine deaths on the day, which took the Covid toll there to 1010, the NHM stated in its bulletin. Ranchi, on the other hand, reported 72 cases and two casualties on the day.
As per government data, as many as 2,266 people were battling the viral infection in Ranchi by Tuesday evening, while the active caseload in East Singhbhum stood at 170.
The state administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 24,085 residents, while the second jab was administered to 5023 beneficiaries, a separate bulletin from NHM stated.
