Govt orders closure of edu institutions; wedding attendees cut to 50
Chief minister Hemant Soren on Sunday announced that all schools, colleges, coaching, training and aanganwadi centres will remain closed for one month in wake of surge in coronavirus cases in the state
Chief minister Hemant Soren on Sunday announced that all schools, colleges, coaching, training and aanganwadi centres will remain closed for one month in wake of surge in coronavirus cases in the state.
The chief minister (CM) also announced that all school and college-level examinations and entrance tests will stand cancelled till further orders.“The government will review the situation after a month. In the meanwhile, it may resort to further restrictions if situation doesn’t improve,” Soren said.
The number of attendees at weddings was also limited to 50 from the existing 200 in the state.
The CM said the government was working on to increase the number of oxygen-supported beds at all medical colleges and hospitals, besides focusing on procuring life-saving drugs.
“While the government is doing everything to increase the number of oxygen-supported beds, it has been noticed that occupancy of beds is also very high. This indicates that infection is spreading very fast. We can’t say how long it will go on ,” the CM said, while also urging citizens to not take the pandemic’s second wave lightly.
“The second wave is more destructive than the earlier one. It has gripped people of every age, including children and youngsters. I will urge young people not to step out of their homes unless necessary. Stop going out and wandering, otherwise things will go beyond control,” he cautioned.
Earlier on Saturday last, Soren wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow use of doctors and paramedical association with high number of central paramilitary forces stationed in the state to support the state in the ongoing battle against the virus. He also convened a meeting of all political parties and discussed ways to ameliorate the situation.
Besides advocating for a lockdown, party leaders demanded to increase availability of beds, oxygen cylinders, medicines and testing. They also highlighted alleged reports of patients’ harassment and exploitation by some private hospitals.
Jharkhand on April 17 reported 3,838 positive cases and 30 deaths, while active cases climbed to 25,619.
The state has so far reported 158,953 cases, including 131,928 recoveries, 25,619 active cases and 1,406 deaths. It has, so far this month, discovered as many as 34,752 positive cases with daily average of over 2,044 cases and reported 292 deaths.
