Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered a series of emergency measures, including the extension of weekend lockdown with daily night curfew from 7pm to 5am in all the 167 cities/towns of the state from tomorrow. The government has also ordered a total ban on all gatherings except weddings and funerals across the state till August 31.
The government and private offices will work at 50 per cent capacity till the end of this month, as per the directives issued by the CM during a video conference meeting to review the COVID situation in the state. Singh called for "war-like preparedness" to deal with the massive spike.
In the five worst-affected districts of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Mohali, restrictions on vehicular capacity have been imposed again with buses and other public transport to operate with 50% occupancy and private four-wheelers not allowed to carry more than three passengers per vehicle.
Singh has directed the deputy commissioners of these five districts to allow only 50% of the non-essential shops to open on a daily basis to check crowding. The five districts currently account for 80% of the active caseload in the state.
Punjab has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases and death toll for the last several days.
On Wednesday, the state had reported 36,083 coronavirus cases with 920 deaths so far.
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