Amid rising COVID-19 cases, Bihar govt imposes lockdown till May 15

Amid rising COVID-19 cases in the state, the Bihar government on Tuesday imposed lockdown in the state till May 15.

Taking to Twitter, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: "After discussion with the associate ministers and officials yesterday, it was decided to implement the lockdown in Bihar by May 15, 2021. In relation to its detailed guidelines and other activities, today the Crisis management group has been instructed to take action."

The decision of the Chief Minister came after Patna High Court on Monday asked the state government to control the COVID-19 situation and declare a lockdown or it will have to pass an appropriate order.

"It has been emerging that the state government is heading toward total failure in the context of uncontrollable surge of corona infection in Bihar," a bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Mohit Kumar Shah, which is monitoring the situation on a daily basis, said.

The state government should inform the court about whether a complete lockdown will be imposed in Bihar or not, it said, directing the government to submit a report by Tuesday.

"The state government has completely failed on tackling the pandemic. Why is the state government not taking a decision to lock down. The state government should avoid forcing us to pass an order pertaining to imposing a lockdown in Bihar," the bench told the Advocate General. The high court has also asked the state government to form a war room and deploy five specialists to monitor the situation in Bihar.

Earlier, the Bihar government has imposed a night curfew in the state till March 15. Bihar Chief Minister has also announced free COVID-19 vaccine to all above 18 years of age.

Meanwhile, the state registered 11,407 more COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total count of active cases in Bihar to 1,07,667.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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