With some restrictions, shops and commercial establishments opened on Friday in major Chhattisgarh cities after the 16-day strict lockdown enforced by the district authorities on July 23.
Raipur district administration issued fresh guidelines for opening of shops in different shifts from Friday, a public relation department said. The similar lockdown which was also enforced in various urban bodies in different districts, including Durg, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur and Korba of the state ended on Thursday.
The emergency services, including hospitals, and law and order maintenance were not under the purview of restrictions, said senior officials.
“Sale of vegetables, dairy products, mutton and fish will be allowed from 6 am till 12 noon while grocery shops and general stores would open from 8 am till 4 pm. Hotels and restaurants would remain open from 10 am to 9 pm while home delivery facilities will function from 10 am till 10 pm in restaurants and hotels. Other businesses such as cloth stores, shoe shops, readymade garment shops, hardware etc. can run their business from 11 am till 7 pm,” the guidelines issued by Raipur collector stated.
Additionally, street food vendors are allowed to operate from 6 am to 9 am in the morning and 5 pm to 8 pm in the evening.
On Thursday, 40 inmates of Raipur Central jail were found Covid-19 positive. The jail authorities said that the infected inmates are kept in separate barracks and necessary preventive measures have been taken to contain the spread.
Record single-day spike of 483 Covid-19 cases was recorded in the state on Thursday. The highest number of cases were found in Raipur as a total of 193 cases were detected on Thursday.
Chhattisgarh, where the infection has spread in all the 28 districts, reported 11,020 Covid-19 cases till Thursday. Of these cases, 2855 were active cases as 8088 patients have been discharged while 77 others have died.