With the objective of preventing the spread of Covid-19 in Andhra Pradesh, the state government has today decided to impose a day curfew across AP from May 5 for the next two weeks.
This curfew comes after AP recorded 23,920 new Covid-19 cases and 83 fatalities on Sunday. The state currently has 1.4 lakh active cases.
Keeping this figure in mind, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy reportedly took the decision after a review meeting with the state's health department at his camp office.
The commercial establishments in the state will be allowed to operate from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm every day during the curfew period.
The government, however, has said that all emergency and essential services will be exempted from the following the curfew. It will also enforce section 144 of the Indian Penal Code during the curfew hours.
Meanwhile, the Jagan regime has been
facing endless rebuke for its "reckless" decision to go ahead with SSC and intermediate exams in May, even when AP, as well as the rest of India, are in the middle of the second wave of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
In this context, many, including JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, have been quite vocal about their belief that the CM's decision regarding the exams is "unwise", "irresponsible", "unwarranted" and one that may endanger the lives of many students, their guardians, teachers, and other school employees.
Recently, Kalyan had even
openly flayed the state government for deciding to go ahead with the exams amidst the second wave.