Faced with the unabated second surge of Covid-19 pandemic the State of Bihar decided to enforce stricter curbs to contain the spread of the disease.

This decision was arrived at by the State Government after a meeting of the top officials, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the crisis management group members was held.

The Development Commissioner and member of State Crisis Management group Amir Subhani said: “Night curfew across the State will now be effective from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and all shops should be closed by 4 p.m.. Maximum 50 persons can participate in a marriage ceremony while 20 person will be allowed for funeral rites.”

Subhani went on to add that the night curfew for marriage ceremonies will be effective from 10 p.m.

As of Thursday evening, according to the official figures there were 98,748 active cases and 4,41,375 total cases in the State.

In accordance with the new order, the night curfew period has been extended and now it will be in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The earlier timings were from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. It is obvious that this has been done to curtail the movement of the public to check the spread of Covid-19.

The new restrictions will continue till May 15.

Besides the night curfew here are the other guidelines.

* The timings of all shops/commercial establishments have been restricted and they are required to close at 4 pm daily.

* The maximum number of persons allowed for a wedding ceremony is limited to 50.

* For cremations and funerals the maximum number of persons allowed is 20.

* Government and other offices will function only with 25 per cent attendance.

The services that will be exempt from these curbs include the public transport which will allow only 50 per cent seating capacity, industrial organisations, construction work, activities related to E-commerce, health services, vendors selling fruits and vegetables on carts, and activities related to farming. The takeaway facility will be allowed from restaurants only till 9 p.m.

Subhani who briefed the media on the new curbs also said that the State Government will meet the cost of conduct of last rites of Covid-19 victims and also those testing negative but having symptoms of the deadly virus.

Further, he said, in order to ramp up the healthcare services by increasing the number of doctors and paramedics, walk-in interviews will be held for recruitment for one year.