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Schools, colleges shut, curbs on night movement in Pune in fresh restrictions

The surge in coronavirus cases in Pune has triggered a fresh batch of restrictions in the city with the Pune District administration announcing the same on Sunday. As a part of it, night-time movement, functioning of hotels and bars, and large congregations are now limited.  

Headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the covid-19 review meeting took place today morning in view of the increasing cases. In attendance were district health and administrative machinery, many MPs, MLAs and other authoritative figures.  

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At the end of the meeting, Pune’s Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao conducted a media briefing to declare the plans and decisions undertaken with the suggestions during the meeting.  

“In Maharashtra, the positivity rate is going up. In Pune District, it has gone up to 10 per cent. 15 days ago, the positivity rate was only about 4.5 to 5 per cent. It has grown fast. Considering the fact that last year, we had seen a similar trend where the positivity rate had grown from 2 to 4 per cent to 10 per cent in the first few months and then for in next three months the rate had become very high. To avoid this, we are taking some precautionary measures,” said Rao. 

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The set of measures to be followed- 

  • No reopening of schools and colleges till February 28th. This will be reviewed again next Friday.  
  • Instead of the existing time bar of 1.30 am, restaurants and bars will have to close by 11 pm.  
  • Starting Monday, February 22nd, a ‘limited curfew’ will come into effect from 11 pm to 6 am. During this period, people can only leave their homes for essential purposes. This doesn’t apply to newspaper and vegetable vendors and others who have morning work.  
  • Private coaching classes will be shut till further notice. Civil services (MPSC/UPSC) coaching classes are permitted to function with a 50% capacity of students.  
  • Micro-containment zones will be tagged in areas of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and rural regions.  
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  • Though there is no restriction on inter-district travel, commuters and transport agencies will have to adhere to the covid guidelines.  
  • Marriage functions require mandatory police permission before conducting them.  
  • Police headquarters and stations will have a single-window system to prevent any trouble to the citizens. However, more than 200 people won’t be allowed to enter.  
  • Restrictions of such kind also applicable to religious, political and other gatherings.