Punjab, Chandigarh wake up to curfew clamped to check spread of coronavirus

People in Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh kept to their homes on Tuesday as there was no relaxation in the curfew imposed by the authorities to check the spread of coronavirus. The Punjab government clamped a curfew on Monday after finding that people were ignoring the state-wide lockdown ordered by it. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered the imposition of a "full curfew with no relaxations".

Later, the UT Chandigarh Administration also announced a curfew from Monday midnight. Police personnel were deployed in large numbers to implement the restrictions.

However, the respective district administrations allowed government employees tasked with emergency and essential services to attend their duties on production of official ID cards. Hospitals and chemists shops will remain open in Mohali, as per the order issued by the district administration.

Meanwhile, as per initial reports, a few people came out of their houses at some places in Punjab to buy daily use items like milk but were sent back by police personnel. Roads bordering Chandigarh and Haryana were completely sealed, an official said.

Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma appealed to people to stay indoors. He said the district administration was trying to develop a system to provide daily uses items at doorsteps. Punjab and UT Chandigarh have reported 23 and seven positive coronavirus cases respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)