Uttar Pradesh eases COVID-19 restrictions from July 5; cinema halls and gyms to reopen

The Uttar Pradesh government has announced relaxations in the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions after noticing a decline in the number of coronavirus cases in the state. The new guidelines will be effective from July 5. Taking cognizance of the COVID-19 situation, CM Yogi chaired a high-level meeting in the state on Friday. The state government has allowed cinema halls, multiplexes, and stadiums in the state to open from Monday while following strict COVID-19 protocols. However, the weekend lockdown will still continue. 

Guidelines for cinema halls & multiplexes

The decision to ease the lockdown comes after several businesses faced losses during the pandemic. Considering the problems sympathetically, CM Yogi allowed cinema halls and multiplexes to reopen. He further stated that the operators will have to strictly follow the guidelines issued by the government in cinemas and multiplexes and legal action will be taken under the Covid-19 Epidemic Act if the guidelines are violated. 

• No arrangement for food and drink in the cinema hall.
• Only packaged food will be provided to the visitors.
• Tickets will be booked online.
• In places where online booking is not available, tickets will be available through the window.
• Ticket buyers will keep a distance of six feet from each other.
• The entire cinema hall will be sanitized after every show.

Health ATMs 

Another major decision taken by the state government in the meeting was to set up health ATMs across villages and towns. These health ATMs will have equipment and staff to measure body mass index, blood pressure, body fat, plus rate, oxygen content. Technicians will be trained to operate it.

COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh

According to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh on Friday reported 109 new COVID-19 cases with 260 recoveries and 10 deaths. The total active cases of the state remain at 2,687 with 16,80,980 total recoveries and 22,601 deaths.

COVID-19 cases in India

India reported 46,617 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. While India's active caseload (5,09,637) declines by about 86% active cases constitute 1.67% of total cases. Total recoveries across the country stand at 2,95,48,302 with 59,384 patients recovered in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate climbed a mark of 97.01 per cent and the weekly positivity rate remained below 5 per cent i.e. 2.57 per cent.

The concentrated efforts of the Indian Council of Medical Research in augmenting and diversifying COVID-19 testing facilities have made it possible to prepared medical and healthcare infrastructure to function as per India's requirements. The testing capacity has ramped up too. ICMR has achieved the milestone of conducting 40 crores testing. According to ICMR, over 18,80,000 COVID-19 testing samples were conducted on July 1.

(Image Credits: PTI/ANI)