Nitish Kumar decides to lockdown Bihar till 31st March over COVID-19 outbreak

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in a high level meeting today decided to lockdown all districts, blocks and subdividional headquarters of Bihar till 31st March. There are 38 districts,101 sub divisions ,534 blocks and urban local bodies headquarters which will be locked down in Bihar. This decision was taken by the Bihar government after a COVID-19 patient died in AIIMS, Patna and two others have tested positive .

Nitish Kumar orders lockdown

Nitish Kumar said, "Due to coronavirus humans are under threat. We are trying to face this epidemic with all seriousness. Everyone has to be careful and people should maintain social distancing. Keeping in mind the health safety of people of Bihar due to COVID-19,the Bihar government has decided to lockdown all district , all subdivision, all block headquarters and all urban local bodies headquarters till 31st March 2020. Private institutions, offices and public transport have been stopped from operating"

Essential commodities services Exempted 

In addition, Kumar also said 

"Private medical services, medical stores, food and general store shop, dairy, fruits and vegetables ,LPG gas agencies, post offices and courier services, telecom services, petrol and CNG stations, banking and ATM, post office and print and electronic media and vehicles utilized for this services are exempted from this lockdown" 

Nitish Kumar's appeal to people 

The Bihar Chief Minister while Making an appeal to the People said that

"I appeal to the people of Bihar to support the decision of the Bihar government pertaining to lockdown and I believe that we will face the challenge posed by COVID-19.  People should restrain from socializing and we are also making people aware through Media. We shall overvome this crisis soon."

Bihar faced the biggest situation on 22nd March, when three patients tested positive. Among these three, one died  who was also suffering from kidney ailment. Bihar has a lot of migrant population in different states, and due to the fear of COVID-19 in other states, there is a mad rush to return back to Bihar on soecial trains plying from Pune and Maharashtra and Punjab. 

On 22nd March itself, around 5000 people reached in two special trains in Patna. Fearing community transmission, Nitish kumar urged the Ministry of Railways to stop the rail services, which was accepted by the Modi government. Nitish kumar has also requested to stop the operation of flights to Patna.