Night curfew in four Himachal districts from April 27, negative COVID report a must to enter state

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government imposed a night curfew in four districts from April 27 to May 10 and made it mandatory for people visiting the state to produce a negative coronavirus report.

The decisions were taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of CM Jai Ram Thakur.

The night curfew will be imposed in Kangra, Una, Solan and Sirmour and the restrictions will remain in force from 10 pm to 5 am daily during the period, an official spokesperson said.

The four districts currently have over 7,330 coronavirus patients, which is 57 per cent of the 12,833 cases in the state, according to the Health Department data updated till 2 pm on Sunday.

While Kangra has 2,805 cases, Solan has 2,264 patients, followed by Sirmaur (1,259) and Una (1,002), the data revealed.

However, the state government has not taken any decision of imposing a night curfew in Shimla, Mandi and Hamirpur districts, each having over 1,000 active cases, the spokesperson said.

It has been made mandatory for visitors and state residents to produce a negative report of coronavirus test, conducted not earlier than 72 hours before entering the state, he said.

In case Himachal residents do not undergo an RT-PCR test before entering the state, they will have to remain in home isolation for 14 days.

However, they have been given the option of getting themselves tested after seven days of home isolation.

If they test negative, then they will not be required to remain in quarantine, the spokesperson said.

At the meeting, it was also decided that civic bodies, both in urban and rural areas, will be closely involved in effective enforcement of COVID guidelines.

They will be empowered to initiate legal action against the violators, the spokesperson added.

It was also decided that a special task force will be constituted at the local-level for effective enforcement of the guidelines during all religious, social, political and cultural gatherings.

Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Technical Education and Tribal Development Minister Dr Ram Lal Markanda, Health Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal, Forests Minister Rakesh Pathania, Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, Additional Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena and Secretary (Health) Amitabh Awasthi were present in the meeting.