PATNA: The statewide lockdown is likely to be extended by a week with more concessions to the people.
The final decision is to taken at a review meeting to be chaired by CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday.
The duration of the ongoing lockdown is to end on Tuesday.
According to reliable sources, the government would not take any risk by lifting the lockdown at the moment.
“The Covid-19 positivity rate has been declining and the number of deaths falling.
But it is yet not over.
People are still getting infected and dying due to the virus.
Hence, all precautions would have to be followed until the situation becomes almost normal,” sources said.
The sources, however, asserted that people would get further relaxations with the reopening of some more windows keeping in view the people’s inconveniences.
Health experts also favour the idea of extending the lockdown for some time more in larger interest of the masses.
IMA state’s acting president Dr Ajay Kumar said the lockdown must continue further in the larger interest of the state.
Some office and business activities may be resumed for limited hours, but public gatherings should be completely avoided.
In fact, the lockdown is an extended form of social distancing and it immensely helps in reducing the rate of infections.
Social rituals and public meetings besides mass gathering at sabzi mandis and shopping malls would reverse the declining graph of infections and deaths immediately.
Dr Kumar pointed out that if people in a particular area of the country are suffering from the disease and there is no restriction on movement of people from other places, the pandemic would never end.
Hence, the lockdown must be enforced effectively and the people should follow the Covid protocol sincerely, he added.
Aryabhatta Knowledge University’s dean of health and medicine, Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, said the lockdown should be relaxed in phases.
“People should be granted some more concessions and the office and shopping hours may be extended by a few hours.
Educational institutions must not reopen at the moment and all places of mass gatherings should remain shut.
However, medical colleges may be allowed to reopen for academics with full protective measures,” he added.
Principal of Government Ayurvedic College, Patna, Dr Dineshwar Prasad, said the declining trend of infections does not indicate the end of the virus.
Its transmission rate has slowed down only due to the strict adherence of Covid protocols due to the lockdown.
The people would again become carefree and ignore the protective measures once the lockdown is lifted, he said.
Dr Prasad further said the third wave is likely to hit the state in near future and, hence, the government should not take any risk by unlocking its control in utter haste.