Punjab CM orders night curfew from tomorrow in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala to check covid spread

Ludhiana: Concerned over the rising number of Covid cases in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 am in the worst affected cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala from Saturday, while directing all big cities/towns to prepare integrated management plan for treatment of the disease at both Government and private facilities.

    As cases in the state went up to 20,891, with 1050 instances reported on one day on Thursday, the Chief Minister also announced a week-long trial of enforcement of the mandatory mask wearing rule by making offenders stand at the spot for an hour with a mask on. He was of the view that making the offenders sweat it out might help check the violations on this count, which had crossed 3.82 lakhs.

    Answering questions in his weekly #AskCaptain Live session on Facebook, and expressing concern over the steady increase in Covid infections and positivity in the state, which reported 8.50% cases in samples tested in past one week, the Chief Minister said with the peak projected to come in Punjab by end of August or early September, one could not be certain how high the peak of daily cases may go.

    He also assured Mr Hardeep Singh Swaich from Barnala that he will immediately direct Technical Advisor Mr RS Sandhu, who is a former Chief Engineer, to conduct an enquiry regarding the construction of Chawa-Samrala road and the repair work will be initiated soon.

    Regarding another question by Raman from Ludhiana regarding a daily bulletin regarding action taken against drug paddlers and liquor smugglers, the CM assured that strict action is being taken against any person found guilty of these crimes. However, he said that such daily bulletin is not possible.