Uttarakhand govt to seek lockdown extension till Apr 30

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Friday prepared a detailed action plan to be submitted to the Centre seeking extension of the coronavirus lockdown till April 30, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets chief ministers to take stock of the situation.

The proposed action plan was worked out at a meeting held by Rawat with senior officials, including Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, DGP Anil Raturi and Additional Chief Secretary Om Prakash, to discuss the strategy to contain the outbreak in the coming days.

The state government is planning to seek extension of the lockdown in all the 13 districts of Uttarakhand till April 30. It will also demand removal of certain restrictions like the one on inter-district and intra-district movement of people in districts which have not reported any COVID 19 cases.

A decision by the central government on the nationwide lockdown, which entered its 17th day, is expected after Modi's interaction with all chief ministers on Saturday. The emphasis on uninterrupted supply of essentials and maintaining social distancing during the lockdown remains intact even as it proposes stricter norms for identified hotspots in the state.

"Corona cases are rising. Though in Uttarakhand we have been able to contain it to some extent, some of our states are badly affected by it. So I don't think it is time to lift the lockdown," Rawat said.

"Many enlightened people have suggested to me that the lockdown should be extended in the larger interest of people so that we get rid of COVID-19," he said.

The chief minister said coronavirus is still in stage 1 in Uttarakhand where 35 people have tested positive for the infection so far.

"Our hill districts fortunately have not reported a single positive case so far. One person who tested positive in Almora was a Tablighi Jamaat member and the one who tested positive in Pauri had returned from Spain," Rawat said.

He said the situation in the state is better after the sealing of around half a dozen localities and villages in Dehradun and Haridwar districts where Jamaat members had taken shelter. Rawat attributed the "partial success" in controlling the spread of the disease to strict enforcement of social distancing norms during the ongoing lockdown.

The chief minister said currently 110 cases were being tested on a regular basis at the two testing facilities in the state-- AIIMS, Rishikesh, and Government Medical College and Hospital, Haldwani. Efforts are on to ramp up testing facilities in the state by engaging more hospitals, he said. When asked whether the period of six hours, between 7 am and 1 pm, given to people to buy essentials will be reduced, Rawat said it will cause crowding on the streets in violation of social distancing guidelines.