LUCKNOW: With active Covid cases on a decline across the state, the Yogi Adityanath government on Friday lifted the Sunday lockdown, thus reverting to the pre-Covid arrangement.
The decision was taken during a meeting of CM’s ‘Team-9’ on Friday. Now, the markets will follow their respective weekdays for closure. In a statement, the government said all markets could reopen normally across the state but would need to follow appropriate Covid norms and guidelines.
At present, shops and commercial establishments are allowed to function between 6 am and 10 pm from Monday to Saturday, while the lockdown used to be in place on Sundays.
Notably, a number of women organisations had been urging the state government to lift the Sunday curfew in view of the festival of Raksha Bandhan on August 22. Even cinema hall owners were also asking the state government to end the weekly closure since it was affecting their business. The government spokesman said that markets would now observe their earlier weekly closure on designated days.
Earlier this month, Yogi govt had ended Saturday curfew under weekend lockdown after Covid cases in the state started coming down.
As per the order issued by the government, the general public can now stay normal from 6 am to 10 pm on all weekdays. However, the order clearly states that people must use masks, sanitizer and follow social distancing.
The Uttar Pradesh government had imposed a corona curfew across the state during the second wave of deadly Covid in April and May this year. With time, the state govt relaxed lockdown rules in s phased manner after the state started to report s decline in coronavirus cases.
There has been a marked improvement in the pandemic situation as 12 districts -- Aligarh, Amethi, Chitrakoot, Etah, Firozabad, Gonda, Hathras, Kasganj, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Shamli, and Sonbhadra. These districts have no active Covid cases while the recovery rate of the state stands at 98.6%.
The government had also allowed secondary, higher, technical, and vocational educational institutions to resume normal classes with 50% attendance. The CM had asked the officials to organise vaccination camps on the premises of universities and colleges for students above 18 years.