Withthe state’s Covid positivity rate sliding to 0.4%, Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered lifting of weekend and night curfew,and allowed gatherings of 100 persons indoors and 200 outdoors from Monday,while directing the DGP to challan all political leaders violating the Covidrules while holding rallies and protestmeetings.
Evenas he hoped that better sense will prevail on the political parties and leadersbrazenly violating Covid curbs by holding massive protests, he asked DGP DinkarGupta to issue challans against those indulging in anti-Covid behaviour.
TheChief Minister also ordered opening of bars, cinema halls, restaurants, spas,swimming pools, gyms, malls, sports complexes, museums, zoos etc., subject toall eligible staff members and visitors having taken at least one dose each ofthe vaccine.
Thoughschools will continue to remain closed, colleges, coaching centres and allother institutions of higher learning shall be allowed to open by the DeputyCommissioner concerned, subject to a certificate having been submitted, thatall teaching, non-teaching staff and students have been given at least one doseof vaccination, at least 2 weeks ago.
TheChief Minister, while reviewing the Covid situation virtually, said thesituation will again be reviewed on July 20. Strict use of masks must be ensured at all times, the Chief Ministerdirected, while announcing the easing of restrictions.
HeathSecretary Hussan Lal said four districts had shown positivity of 1 or less than1%, but the districts that still needed vigilance were Ludhiana, Amritsar,Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Firozpur and Roop Nagar.
Referringto the cases of Mucormycosis, which has been reported in 623 patients as ofJuly 8, the Chief Minister asked the Health Department to work out a proposalfor supporting and helping in the treatment of such patients. Of the 623 cases,67 are from outside the state, the Health Secretary informed the meeting,adding that 337 cases were under treatment and 154 had been discharged while 51patients had died. The maximum cases reported in day was 34 on May 27, whilethe average of daily cases in the first week of July stood at 5.
TheChief Minister noted that due to the SOPs in place, and the level of COVID andpost COVID care, Punjab has had much fewer cases and deaths than most otherstates, including Haryana, and Delhi. Against 623 cases and 51 confirmed deathsso far in Punjab, both Haryana and Delhi have seen over 1600 cases each, and193 and 236 deaths respectively.