West Bengal extends lockdown till June 15 — religious places, shopping malls, restaurants and hotels to reopen

• The West Bengal government extended the lockdown till June 15 as the number of coronavirus cases spiked to 5,501 in the state, as on June 1, 2020.
  
• Starting today, all the religious places like temples, churches and mosques will be open for devotees — only 10 people will be allowed inside the premises at a time.
  
• All the government and private offices can resume operations from June 8 — with a full workforce.
  
• However, the schools and other educational institutions shall remain closed in June, Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee informed.

The West Bengal government extended the lockdown till June 15 as the number of coronavirus cases spiked to 5,501 in the state, as on June 1, 2020. The lockdown will continue in the containment zones while activities will resume across the non-containment areas.


Starting today, all the religious places like temples, churches and mosques will be open for devotees and arrangements have been made to ensure the availability of sanitizers and hand wash across these places. According to the state guidelines, only 10 people will be allowed inside the premises at a time. Gatherings will not be allowed. All these religious places have been shut for over two months now.

As per the fresh guidelines, all the government and private offices can resume operations from June 8 — with full workforce. This also includes jute mills, tea gardens etc. Shopping malls, restaurants and hotels will also reopen.

"All public sector, private sector and government sector offices will remain open from June 8. They might need seven days to clean up all of the files and resume services after the May 31 deadline. From June 8, all the offices will be opened," IANS reported citing West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.

The TV and cinema production can also start in West Bengal — including those targeting OTT platforms. However, this excludes reality shows. The government said that at maximum, only 35 people will be allowed at a time.

For the movement of passengers, buses will be operational as per their accommodation capacity. That means, the passengers will not be allowed to stand in a bus. Earlier, the buses were operational on routes with 30 passengers while taxis could only operate with two people in it. From May 27,auto rickshaws were also allowed to operate with two people.

For the non-essential goods, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation said that the shops will be open across 46 city markets from 10 am to 5.30 pm.

However, the schools and other educational institutions shall remain closed in June, Banerjee informed.

See also:
Punjab extends lockdown till June 30 — liquor and barber shops, beauty parlours to reopen for 12 hours everyday in non-containment zones

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