Night curfew in Shillong due to spike in COVID-19 cases

Shillong: A night curfew has been imposed in Shillong due to the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The Curfew has been imposed in the East Khasi Hills district in the state from November 23 till November 30 between 11 pm to 5 am every day.

The spike in COVID-19 cases have raised the concern of the state government and preventative measure are being taken to contain, reduce and eliminate the pandemic in the state.

The District Magistrate of East Khasi hills, Isawanda Laloo, issued an order and announced the night lockdown in Shillong.

The order has been issued under Section 144 CrPC with Regulation 3 of the Meghalaya Epidemic Diseases, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020.

However, the order is not applied to medical teams and officials on COVID-19 duty, police, security and armed forces, Civil Defence and Home Guard volunteers, wholesale and retail pharmacies, fire and emergency service, MeECL, NEEPCO and power grid.

FCI vehicles, officers and staff corona care centres, press, print and electronic, information and Public Relations Department, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, Shillong Municipal Board and Telecom Services are among the other facilities to remain open during the curfew.

These facilities will have to strictly comply with all the protocols and procedures of COVID-19 guidelines such as social distancing, sanitisation, limiting of field staff and other advisories of Government in the Health and Family Welfare Department.

There is exemption of movement of vehicles carrying essential goods, security forces, medical equipment and shops for the repair of trucks on highways. However, drivers and attendants of the vehicles shall be subjected to medical screening as per protocols.

All sorts of large public gathering and congregation is also prohibited including social, political, entertainment, academic, cultural etc without the permission from the Office of the District Magistrate, East Khasi Hills.

The order further prohibits moving in public, workplaces and during transport without a mask, spitting and consumption of liquor, paan, gutkha, tobacco etc in public places.

Places of worship of all faiths are permitted to re-open provided their compliance to the SOP laid down by the government, including wedding ceremonies with one-third seating capacity of guests.

As per the guidelines issued by the Education Department of the Meghalaya government, schools are permitted to open only for works like teacher-student counselling, clearing doubts, addressing difficult spots, sharing unit/lesson plans, assignments, submission of works etc.

Meghalaya has so far reported 11,339 COVID-19 positive cases out of which 10,335 have recovered.

The state has recorded 110 corona deaths and has 894 active cases including 44 cases from BSF and armed forces.

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