Total Lockdown Will Continue in Jharkhand: Soren

Ranchi, May 3 (PTI) Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday said a "total" lockdown will continue in Jharkhand for the next two weeks and the Centre's relaxation guidelines will not be applicable in the state.

The relaxations given by the central government during the lockdown would not be applied in the state to protect the health of people, he said.

On May 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced a "limited" lockdown. The suspension of air, train and inter-state road travel will continue to remain in force across the country for two more weeks from May 4, but some activities will be allowed after a classification of districts into "Red", "Orange" and "Green" zones, based on COVID-19 risk-profiling, it said.

Taking to Twitter, Soren said, "As a precaution, the lockdown will continue in Jharkhand for the next two weeks."

"The central government's fresh instructions regarding relaxations will not be applied in Jharkhand at present. As students, migrant labourers and others are returning home, this is necessary to protect the health of the people of the state," he wrote on the microblogging website.

Soren's government had, on April 27, announced that it would not implement the Centre's guidelines on opening of standalone and neighbourhood shops due to a sudden spurt in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.

(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)