COVID-19: West Bengal to observe lockdown on July 23, 25, 29

New Delhi: West Bengal will remain in lockdown on July 23, July 25 and July 29 from 6 am to 10 pm each day in the view of coronavirus outbreak, according to an order by the state government.

On Monday, the West Bengal government announced a lockdown in the state for two days every week starting from July 23.

In a press conference, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said, “There will be a two-day complete lockdown every week starting from Thursday. Lockdown will be on Thursday and Saturday this week. This lockdown has been imposed in addition to running a broad-based containment zone approach.”

According to the order, during the lockdown on aforesaid days all government and private offices, commercial establishments, public and private transport and all activities not covered under exceptions as below shall remain closed.

Health services including the movement of health personnel/patients by public and private transport, medicine shops and pharmacies, law and order, courts, correction services, fire and emergency services; electricity, water, and conservancy services; continuous process industries and industries with in-house workers are exempted from lockdown.

Other exemptions include agriculture operations; tea operations in the field; the intrastate and interstate movement of goods; e-commerce; capital and debt market services as notified by SEBI; print, electronic and social media and home delivery of cooked food.

As per an earlier order, the movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited between 10 pm and 5 am except for the above mentioned essential and emergency activities.

As per the Union Health Ministry, 44,769 coronavirus cases were reported in the state including 17,204 active cases and 1,147 deaths. (ANI)