Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced on Tuesday Covid-19 curbs imposed across the state will be eased for a week and said that the night curfew will continue, albeit with revised timings.
“Covid-19 situation across the state was reviewed. For the next one week, starting June 16 till June 22, restrictions are being eased. This means that government and non-government offices can work till 5pm, while shops and establishments can open till 6pm. Night curfew will be in effect from 8pm to 5am,” a rough translation of Kumar’s tweet, posted in Hindi, read.
Bihar ended its Covid-19 induced lockdown on June 8, with the chief minister crediting it with bringing down the state’s daily cases of the viral disease. As part of relaxations, the Bihar government allowed government and private offices to function at 50 per cent capacity till 4pm. Shops and establishments were permitted to open till 6pm. A nod was also given to online educational activities while private vehicles were allowed to operate. All these measures were to be in effect for seven days, which ended on Tuesday.
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The lockdown was first imposed on May 5 and witnessed four extensions, the last of which was till June 8 as announced by Kumar on May 31.
On Monday, 324 people were found positive for Covid-19 in Bihar, while 13 people lost their lives due to it, according to a health department bulletin. Bihar’s cumulative infection tally thus stands at 717,539 including 703,262 recoveries and 9505 related fatalities. Active cases, meanwhile, have slumped further to 4771.
Last Wednesday, the Bihar government added 3951 fatalities to the state’s official Covid-19 death toll which, till a day earlier, stood at 5424. This led to India reporting a daily death toll of 6148 the following day, the highest anywhere since the pandemic struck in early 2020.
