With the hill state witnessing a sudden surge in Covid-19 positive cases, Himachal Government on Monday imposed night curfew in four districts and announced closing educational institutions till December 31.
The night curfew would be imposed from 8 pm to 6 am in Shimla, Mandi, Kangra and Kullu districts from November 24 to December 15. These four districts are emerging as hotspots of Covid-19 cases.
The State Cabinet which met under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday decided that the night curfew in these four districts will be enforced till December 15, when it will be reviewed again.
The Cabinet also decided to enhance the fine to Rs 1,000 from earlier Rs 500 for not wearing face masks in public places. It is also decided that all social, political, cultural, sports and other gatherings in open areas would be restricted to 200 persons with social distancing, said an official spokesman. All the buses in the State would ply with 50 per cent of occupancy till December 15
The Cabinet has further decided to restrict attendance of class-III and IV Government employees to 50 per cent. 50 per cent employees would attend office for three days and remaining 50 per cent for next three days till December 31, the spokesman said.
In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has decided to hold the elections to the newly constituted Municipal Corporations of Mandi, Solan and Palampur with the elections of Dharamshala Municipal Corporation in the month of March or April next year.
The Cabinet also decided to locate headquarters of one Platoon of Home Guards volunteers at Kaza in Lahaul- Spiti district, so that Home Guard volunteers are readily available to the local authorities to meet any eventuality, the spokesman added.
A day before, the State had reported a record 19 deaths in 24 hours due to Covid-19. A high-level Central team has been deputed to Himachal Pradesh to support the State Government in Covid-19 response and management.
Meanwhile, the Health Department made a presentation on ‘Him Surksha-IEC’ campaign being launched and on ‘Planning or Strategy for distribution of proposed Covid-19 Vaccine’ in the State. Presentations were also made before the Cabinet regarding six months targets till March, 2021 and next one year’s target w.e.f April, 2021 to March, 2022 by Technical Education and Education Departments.