Punjab govt imposes daily lockdown from 7 PM to 5 AM; 29 MLAs test positive for COVID-19

In a major move, Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday, announced that Punjab will have a lockdown on a daily basis from 7 PM to 5 AM, in an apparent bid to contain Coronavirus (COVID-19). He also said that the validity of driving licenses, registration certificates & permits which expired on 1st Feb this year has been extended till December 31. Punjab currently has 14,640 active cases and 1219 fatalities - with 30,231 recoveries.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally crosses 33-lakh; Punjab imposes nightly lockdown

Punjab imposes nightly lockdown

41 more COVID-19 deaths, 1,513 new cases in Punjab

29 MLAs test COVID positive

As of date, one-fourth of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha i.e 29 MLAs have tested positive for COVID-19. Among these, seven have already recovered from the contagion. The list of MLAs includes - Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sham Sunder Arora, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Hardial Kamboj, Harjot Kamal, Pargat Singh, Manpreet Singh Ayali, NK Sharma, Rozy Barkandi, Gurpratap Singh Vadala, Nazar Singh Manshahia, Harinder Pal Singh, Manjeet Singh, Kulwant Singh, Principal Budh Ram, Dalveer Singh, Kanwarjit Singh, Darshan Singh Brar and Surinder Dabar Singh. Meanwhile, Dr Dharmvir Agnihotri, Amit Vij, Amrik Singh Dhillon, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Sanjeev Talwar, Lakhvir Singh and Kulbeer Singh have recovered. The state government has warned MLAs who had come in contact with these MLAs to refrain from attending the 1-day session on Friday.

Centre places before states 2 options for borrowing to meet GST revenue shortfall

CM backs NEET deferment

At a  meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Punjab CM joined CMs of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry and West Bengal to put up a united fight over the issue of non-payment of GST compensation to states by the Centre and to protect the federal structure. While Mamata alleged that her government is yet to get Rs 53,000 crore from the union government, the Punjab CM agreed with Banerjee reiterating that Centre had not paid states' GST dues and it was necessary to meet the PM on this. He also backed Banerjee's proposal to approach the SC seeking deferment of NEET/JEE exams.

GST Council rules out hike in taxes amid COVID-19 as Centre places 2 options to states

Punjab's COVID stats

The death toll from COVID-19 rose to 1,219 in Punjab with 41 more fatalities while the infection tally jumped to 46,090 with the detection of 1,513 new cases on Wednesday, according to a medical bulletin. Among districts that reported fresh COVID-19 cases included Ludhiana (472), Patiala (237), Jalandhar (147), Gurdaspur (131), Hoshiarpur (83), Amritsar (73) and Kapurthala (69). With a collection of 22,112 more samples for COVID-19 testing, the figure of total samples taken so far for testing has reached 9,64,051 in the state.