In the wake of the rising cases of COVID-19, the West Bengal government on Tuesday decided to impose a strict lockdown in containment zones and buffer zones across the state from July 9. This means that private and government offices in containment and buffer zones will remain shut and transport too will be suspended.
Marketing, industrial and trading activities will be shut. No religious congregations will be allowed. Only essential services will remain functional. The lockdown with relaxations in West Bengal is in place till July 31 including movement of people and vehicles only from 5:30am to 10:00pm, until this latest announcement today which changes the movement of residents in containment and buffer zones.
The letter by the Additional Chief Secretary and Chairman Enforcement Task Force Alapan Bandhopadhyay has been sent to the concerned law and order personnel, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner(KMC) and all district magistrates(DMs). “Residents of the containment zones may be exempted and prohibited from attending government and private offices. In fact, their ingress and egress may be strictly regulated. To the extent practicable, local authorities will try to arrange home delivery to residents staying inside the broad based containment zones,” the letter read.
33 containment zones are in the list which is being updated by the state administration. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already written to Secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry on June 30 asking for domestic flights from six cities with high number of COVID-19 cases to be stopped in view of the rising cases in the state. Following this letter, flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad have been stopped from July 6 to July 19.
West Bengal had seen 861 new COVID19 cases on 6 th July with 22 deaths added, taking the toll to 779.
