With the Covid-induced situation gradually improving in Uttar Pradesh, the State Government has decided to further ease the restrictions and allow markets to open till 9 pm from June 21. Restaurants, malls and eateries will also reopen with some riders.
“Night curfew will be in effect from 9 pm to 7 am from Monday to Friday and markets will open for 14 hours from 7 am to 9 pm. Currently, the markets are allowed to open from 7 am to 7 pm. Also, restaurants, parks and eating joints have also been allowed to open with some restrictions from June 21,” Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal said in a statement ssued in Lucknow on Tuesday.
“From June 21, restaurants may open with 50 per cent capacity in every district of the state following Covid protocols, and permission has also been given to open all parks and street food joints. However, the Government has given strict instructions for setting up of Covid help desks at all these places and it will be mandatory to enter the restaurants with masks on.
“Masks and sanitisers will continue to be mandatory in the shops and showrooms. Also, a register of visitors will have to be maintained with names, addresses and other details. Shops, vegetable markets will also be allowed to open till 9 pm,” Sehgal said.
After a review meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave his nod to the proposal of handing out exemptions and opening up of markets after being told about marked improvement in the Covid situation. Yogi said that detailed guidelines regarding the new system should be issued soon.
Meanwhile, the recovery rate in UP touched 98.3% as fresh COVID-19 cases came down to 340 on Tuesday while 1,104 patients recovered in the past 24 hours. There are now 7,221 active cases in the state.
According to Additional Chief Secretary, Information, Navneet Sehgal, the overall positivity rate in the state was 3.1 per cent. On Monday, 2,57,135 samples were tested, taking the total number of tests conducted in the state to 5,38,59,954.