Chandigarh, Sep 29 (PTI) The Punjab government on Wednesday decided to ease restrictions on public gatherings in the wake of improvement in the COVID-19 situation in the state.

According to the decision, the government has allowed an indoor gathering of 300 people and outdoor gathering of 500 people.

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Earlier, it was 150 for indoor and 300 for outdoor gatherings.

While reviewing the Covid situation in the state, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi asked the School Education Department to encourage students to attend classes by following necessary health protocols, according to a government release.

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Likewise, he also asked the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department to reopen 'anganwadi' centres while strictly following the prescribed Covid safety norms.

Expressing satisfaction over the decline in positivity rate of Covid cases, the chief minister also asked the Health Department to ensure strict compliance to Covid safety protocols including wearing of face masks and maintaining social distancing.

He also asked the department to ramp up the testing capacity up to 50,000 per day as a precautionary measure in view of the coming festive season.

While making a brief presentation on the current Covid scenario, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Alok Shekhar said a total 232 cases were reported in past one week with an average of 33 positive cases per day, the release said.

He further said that from September 14 to 20, only one case of mucormycosis was reported, it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)