Lockdown in Bihar till May 15, CM Nitish Kumar takes step to curb COVID-19 spread

The decision to impose a lockdown in Bihar comes a day after Patna High Court asked the state government to control the COVID-19 situation.

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New Delhi: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday (May 4, 2021) imposed a lockdown in Bihar till May 15 to curb the spread of COVID-19. He made the announcement using his official Twitter account.

Nitish informed that the decision has been taken after discussions with ministers and government officials on Monday.

"In relation to its detailed guidelines and other activities, the Crisis management group has been instructed to take action," the Bihar CM added.

कल सहयोगी मंत्रीगण एवं पदाधिकारियों के साथ चर्चा के बाद बिहार में फिलहाल 15 मई, 2021 तक लाॅकडाउन लागू करने का निर्णय लिया गया। इसके विस्तृत मार्गनिर्देशिका एवं अन्य गतिविधियों के संबंध में आज ही आपदा प्रबंधन समूह (Crisis management Group) को कार्रवाई करने हेतू निदेश दिया गया है। — Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) May 4, 2021

The decision comes a day after Patna High Court asked the state government to control the COVID-19 situation and declare a lockdown or it will have to pass an appropriate order.

The state recorded 11,407 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, which took its total number of active cases to 1,07,667. Bihar's coronavirus caseload has now increased to 5,09,047 with the capital Patna being the worst-hit city. There were 82 new COVID-19-related fresh fatalities in the state, of which, Patna accounted for 24 casualties. Bihar has so far witnessed 2,821 COVID-19 deaths.

Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry announced that India recorded over 3.57 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which took the country's total count to the 2-crore mark.

The world's second-worst coronavirus-hit country recorded more than 3,00,000 new infections for a 13th straight day on Tuesday.