Jharkhand’s State Disaster Management Authority, after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, has extended the lockdown till June 10. However, there has been some relaxation in the lockdown as well.
As many as 15 out of 24 districts that are witnessing a lower number of active cases are allowed to open shops from 6 am to 2 pm in the state. The nine districts with a high number of cases such as Bokaro, Dhanbad, Purbi Singhbhum, Devghar, Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Garhwa, Gumla, and Ramgarh have permitted the opening of shops other than clothes, jewelry, and shoes. Malls and multi-brand shops will remain closed. Apart from this, the maximum number of people allowed for weddings and parties has also been fixed. Only a total number of 11 people are allowed to gather at any event. The state has also decided to postpone all the exams, with education centres and coaching institutions closed.
The office of the joint secretariat’s different departments will function until 2 pm with 33 percent staff strength.
The agriculture sector, industries, and mining operations, and emergency services will function according to new guidelines. CM Soren, in a statement, said that “the government is making all efforts to save human lives and their livelihoods”.
The Chief Minister said that the number of active cases and the number of deaths have been reduced because of the Health-Safety week being observed in the state. After analyzing the ground situation, all the 24 districts will be divided into two categories following the guidelines of the health-safety week, and some relaxation will be given accordingly.
The lockdown in the state was about to be lifted on June 3, which now has been extended for one whole week. The COVID-19 situation has improved to a large extent in the state, owing to the 2.5 months lockdown in the state.
The new lockdown guidelines now don’t require one to have an E-pass for travel purposes within a district, however, to go from one district to another one needs an e-pass. The districts will further be divided into categories, and the district with lesser cases will be given relaxations. People who are traveling to the state need to go under 7 days of mandatory institutional or home quarantine, except those who will leave the state within 72 hours.
Chief Minister Soren, in a letter to PM Modi, wrote that vaccine procurement by the states is against the norms of cooperative federalism. He said, “this is probably for the first instance in the history of independent India that the states have been mandated to procure vaccines on their own.
In the second wave of Covid-19, the death rate in the state increased from 0.9% to 1.46%, as several districts reported a high number of fatalities.
The death toll in Jharkhand rose to 4,991, while the coronavirus tally stood at 3,37,774. Jharkhand now has 8,907 active cases, while 3,23,876 patients have recovered from the disease. Altogether, 84,84,836 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in Jharkhand, including 50,338 since Monday, it added.
