Tripura announces curfew in Agartala municipal areas from May 17-26

The Tripura government on Sunday, announced a nine-day ''corona curfew from May 17 within the jurisdiction of Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) area in view of the COVID-19 surge, state Law minister Ratan Lal Nath said.

Nath, who is also the Cabinet spokesperson said, the decision was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma on Saturday.

''All the healthcare experts and ministers who had attended the meeting on Saturday unanimously resolved that strict COVID-19 protocol should be enforced to contain the surge,'' he said.

West Tripura is the worst-hit district in the state, the minister said.

''We appeal to all people of the state to maintain strict COVID protocol and also request everyone to go for tests and take vaccines. We need to follow three steps to save ourselves awareness, testing, and vaccination. We did not have any alternative other than imposing corona curfew from 5 AM on May 17 till 5 AM on May 26,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the West Tripura district administration in a notification said, cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes, stadiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls, and other public places would be closed for the time being.

Religious places will remain closed for the public but those engaged with rituals in the religious shrines will be allowed to continue with their duties, it said.

All social, political, sports, religious, entertainment, academic, and other gatherings are prohibited during this period.

Essential and emergency services shall continue to function while the non-essential offices will function with a skeleton staff as per roster.

Apart from the AMC areas where three containment zones were announced a few days back, the government has announced total containment zones at Panisagar Nagar Panchayat, Kailashahar Nagar Panchayat, Udaipur Municipal Council, Bisalgarh Municipal Council, Amarpur Municipality, BSF camp at the outskirts of the capital town and Ranirbazar Nagar Panchayat, and the entire village of Nagicherra.

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