The Jharkhand government on Friday extended the lockdown to combat coronavirus till July 31. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the decision was taken after taking “the seriousness of the situation” into consideration.
The state reported 29 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, taking the total tally of infections in the state to 2,294, according to the state health department. The toll from the disease is 12.
“With the cooperation of all of you in the struggle with Corona, we have got the expected success so far, but the struggle is still going on,” Soren said in a tweet. “Considering the seriousness of the situation, the state government has decided to extend the lockdown till 31 July. The concessions in lockdown will continue from time to time.”
With this, Jharkhand has become the second state to extend the lockdown after West Bengal. Earlier in the day, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced a total lockdown in Guwahati city from June 28 midnight to July 12 to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The decision came a day after the Jharkhand government eased some restrictions and said that it will allow e-commerce portals to sell all non-essential items along with essential goods, The Times of India reported. The state also permitted sport activities to resume in stadiums, arenas and sports complex without spectators and said that citizens will be allowed to go for walks in open spaces.
The order, undersigned by chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, was to come into effect from Friday.
Earlier this month, the government had also allowed garment shops, electronic and hardware stores to reopen and had resumed business activity in industrial united. However, places of worship, academic institutes, the hospitality sector, malls and salons continued to remain shut.
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