Week-long lockdown in Jharkhand from today till April 29 to check COVID-19 spread

Ranchi: A week-long lockdown will come into force in Jharkhand starting from Thursday till April 29 to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 infections in the state.

The Heman Soren-led Jharkhand government had on Tuesday announced a week-long lockdown named 'Swasthya Suraksha Saptah' in a bid to break the chain of Covid-19 spread in the state. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said, “It has become very necessary to break the chain of soaring infection of coronavirus in the state. So, we have taken some important decisions in this regard. I hope we will be successful to break the chain of the virus through ‘Swasthya Suraksha Saptah’.”

The restrictions will come into effect from 6 AM on Thursday till 6 am on April 29, the officials said. The government, however, made a few exceptions to the lockdown and assured that essential services will be allowed. 

"Essential services are allowed, religious places will remain open but the gathering of devotees is not allowed. While mining activities, agricultural and construction is allowed,'' the Jharkhand government said.

Religious places will be opened but devotees would not be allowed there. Residents have been asked not to venture out of their homes, excluding those who hold permits. Not more than four people can assemble in a place.

On Sunday CM Soren imposed restrictions in the state and took a major decision to postpone all examinations in the state till further orders. 

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, CM Hemant Soren issued a video message urging people to stay indoors.

All schools, colleges, Anganwadi centers, coaching centers etc have been closed with immediate effect. Further, only 50 people are allowed at weddings now which has been changed from 200 earlier. The situation will be reviewed after one month and a fresh decision will be taken.

On Saturday Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu had tested positive for COVID-19, a doctor at the Raj Bhavan said.

Jharkhand's COVID-19 death toll rose to 1,547 after 45 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, while 4,969 fresh cases took the tally to 1,72,315, the health department said in a bulletin on Wednesday.

It said that the number of active cases stands at 33,178, while 1,37,590 people have so far recovered from the disease. Of the fresh fatalities, 15 were reported from Ranchi and 10 from East Singhbhum, the bulletin said. The remaining deaths were registered in several other districts.

The new coronavirus cases included 1,703 from Ranchi and 692 from East Singhbhum district. Altogether, 33,839 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the state in the last 24 hours.