No lockdown but people need to follow Covid-19 guidelines: Gujarat CM

Gandhinagar, Mar 22: Shedding light on lockdown, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has informed that no lockdown will be imposed in the state, adding that people will have to follow all COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing masks, sanitizing hand, and maintaining social distancing in order to curb the spread of the outbreak.

 

 

In his brief video address to citizens over social media platforms, Rupani asked citizens not to believe in rumors following the recent surge Covid19 cases. He said that there is no need to panic. He appealed to the people to take all precautions and maintain balance between ‘Jaan and Jahaan’.

 

 

Rupani said, “We must ensure that no businesses and other forms of employment get affected due to the Covid-19 outbreak. I further urge people to not pay attention to any rumours related to the disease.”

 

 

With the festival of Holi just one week away, the Gujarat government also said that no permission would be given for celebrations but ‘Holika Dahan’ can take place with crowd restrictions.

 

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has said that government will allow the religious custom of Holi bonfire with crowd restrictions. However, the citizens are requested to stay away from throwing colors at each other and avoid celebrations of the festival of colors on the occasion of Dhuleti which falls on the next day of Holi. This decision has been taken in a core committee meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Major clubs in Ahmedabad city have already canceled rain-dance and mass Holi celebrations this year.

 

 

Night curfew has already been imposed in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Ahmedabad till March 31. These four districts are the worst hit and are adding the most number of cases towards Gujarat's daily case count. Schools in all these districts have also been closed till April 10 and students will be required to attend online classes.

 

Gujarat has so far logged 2,85,429 Covid disease cases of which 4,443 people have died and 2,74,249 recovered. According to the Union health ministry, Gujarat along with Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka accounted for over 83 per cent of the fresh cases across India on Sunday.