Punjab extends COVID restrictions till July 10; bars, pubs can open at 50% capacity
"With cases of Delta Plus variant coming to light, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered extension of Covid restrictions till July 10," the Punjab CMO said.
FollowChandigarh: In a bid to contain the spread of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered an extension of restrictions till July 10.
"With cases of Delta Plus variant coming to light, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered extension of Covid restrictions till July 10, with certain more relaxations, including the opening of bars, pubs and 'ahatas' at 50% capacity, beginning July 1," Chief Minister's office said.
However, some more relaxations have been given.
Expressing satisfaction over the decline in positivity to less than 1%, with overall fall in active cases, the chief minister said that the positivity rate in some districts still remained over 1%. Further, the finding of Delta plus variant was a matter of concern, making it essential to continue with the curbs, he stressed.
The month wise whole genome sequencing has shown that more than 90% is a variant of concern, with the original virus having been practically replaced by variants, said the CM. Two cases (Ludhiana and Patiala) have shown Delta plus variant, while in May and June, the Delta variant was most prevalent, he pointed out.
On Monday, Punjab recorded 271 fresh Covid cases that took its infection tally to 5,95,136 while 18 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 16,011. Ludhiana reported 35 fresh cases, followed by 26 in Jalandhar and 21 in Hoshiarpur.
Presently, the state has 3,639 active cases. Punjab's positivity rate stands at 0.67%.
On June 27, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan asked the authorities to go for aggressive testing and contact tracing to check the spread of Delta Plus, a highly infectious variant of Covid.
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