COVID-19 Punjab News: Educational institutes to remain shut amid coronavirus surge

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered that all educational institutions, other than medical and nursing colleges, remain closed for two weeks.

After an alarming surge in fresh cases of Covid-19 in Punjab, the state government has ordered massive statewide restriction that will come into force from Saturday. This comes after the active caseload skyrocketed to 11,942 on Tuesday. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered that all educational institutions, other than medical and nursing colleges, will remain closed till March 31. Only 50 per cent of the people who usually visit the cinema halls will be allowed at one given time. Only 100 people in the mall at one time. And malls, multiplexes, theatres, etc. will remain closed on Sundays.

Appealing to the public, the CM asked people to restrict social activity to a bare minimum for at least 2 weeks to control the surge in coronavirus cases. He urged people to not more than 10 people should gather at once in houses.

Stringent Curbs In Worst Affected Districts In Punjab

He has ordered a complete ban in all social gatherings and related functions in the 11 worst affected districts of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Moga. However, up to 20 people can attend funerals, cremations, and weddings. The mentioned districts will remain under night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am.

Amarinder Singh also ordered restrictions on in-person public dealings in the government offices, with citizens to be encouraged to visit offices only if it is important. The officials have been asked in these districts to encourage online and virtual modes for grievance redressal and asked them to issue instructions, necessary for restricting appointments per day for registries, etc.

He said that other districts will not be placed under such stringent restrictions for now, but severe measures could be taken if the situation worsens. The Punjab government will be reviewing the condition after two weeks.

35000 people to be tested for Covid-19 every day

Keeping in mind the constant surge in coronavirus cases, Punjab CM said that testing should ramp up to 35,000 per day. He said that special focus would be on super spreaders, government employees, teachers, etc. He also asked to step up RAT testing along with RT-PCR testing.

According to K.K. Talwar, the head of state government's expert team on Covid, one of the reasons for spreading the virus is the opening of schools and colleges, with young asymptomatic people appearing to be spreading the virus. Forty per cent of the coronavirus cases has affected people under 30.