Bihar schools, colleges closed till May 15; Night curfew and new COVID guidelines imposed

Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar on Sunday announced that all schools, colleges, and other educational institutions will remain shut till May 15, in view of the second wave of Coronavirus. The chief minister was addressing a press conference on Sunday. He also announced to impose a night curfew in the state from 9 pm to 5 am.  Moreover, CM Kumar announced to impose a lockdown. Here's a list of what's restricted and what's not.

Lockdown in Bihar: What's Restricted and what's not

• All shops including vegetable, dairy, meat shops, etc will be allowed only till 6 pm. Earlier the deadline was  7 pm. 
• Vegetable mandis will be shifted to a bigger place in a phase-wise manner to ensure social distancing.
• All government and private offices will be shut at 5 pm.
• Restrictions on dine-in services in restaurants and cafes. Takeaways and deliveries will be allowed.
• Religious places that were shut till April 30 will be shut till May 15.
• All ceremonies except wedding and cremation will be restricted.
• Only 25 people will be allowed in cremation programs and only 100 guests will be allowed in weddings. 
• District administration has been ordered to impose section 144 wherever required. 
• No restrictions in travel, banking, postal service, fire, ambulance, medical and e-commerce services. 
• Inter-state and inter-district travel will not be restricted. 
• Gym, swimming pools, malls, clubs, parks, cinema halls will be closed.

CM also assured to provide all medical assistance and treatment to all the needy people. COVID positive patients who are under home isolation will be monitored. Talking about the availability of oxygen cylinders, he said that a liquid oxygen plant will be set up in all government hospitals and medical colleges.

COVID in Bihar

A total of 34 more COVID-19 fatalities were reported in Bihar on Saturday, taking the toll of deaths to 1722, health department bulletin said. A total of 7870 new cases have been recorded across the state in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally of coronavirus patients to 3,15,427. Among the new deaths, 12 hailed from Patna, four from Bhagalpur, Darbhanga (3), 2 each from Bhojpur, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Siwan and Supual while one victim each belonged to Jehanabad, Khagaria and Sheohar. Out of the 7870 new infections reported till 4 pm Saturday, 1898 belonged to capital Patna alone.