Centre asks states to keep grocery shops, chemists outside restrictions of Section 144

With several states across the country stepping into stringent curfews amid rising cases of COVID-19, the Centre on Thursday asked states to keep grocery stores, warehouses, and chemist shops outside the restrictions imposed under Section 144 to maintain smooth supplies of the essentials. Moreover, it also directed states to create awareness among the public to stop panic buying and to ensure that there is no hike in the prices of essential items.

"It should also be ensured that prices of all essential supplies are not increased and they are available at fair prices unless necessitated by cost enhancement due to raw material costs and exchange rates fluctuations," said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution. 

States step into curfews, weekend lockdowns

Over the course of the last week, several states have imposed weekend lockdowns and strict curfews to stop the spread of the virus without stepping into a complete lockdown. Maharashtra, which has been witnessing a spike in infection rate has imposed a state-wide curfew till May 1, strictly instructing people to not step out of their houses unless for an emergency or essential service. State-wide section 144 has been imposed along with the existing night curfew from 8 PM to 7 AM. 

After surpassing Mumbai and recording a daily spike of 17,000+ cases in the past 24 hours, Delhi has also rolled out a weekend curfew which will kick into effect from Friday 10 pm to Monday 5 am. The movement of people has been barred in the state except for essential activities. 

Apart from Maharashtra and Delhi, several states such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and others have imposed night curfews in high-affected districts. 

India is witnessing another deadly wave of Coronavirus across the country. On Thursday, it crossed a grim landmark after it registered over 2 lakh new COVID-19 cases within a 24 hour period, taking the total case tally to 1,40,74,564. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the last 24 hours, 2,00,739 new cases, 93,528 fresh recoveries, 1,038 deaths have been reported. As of now, the total number of active cases in India stand at 14,71,877.