West Bengal government has announced additional relaxations from October 31. As per the new order, intra-state local trains to operate with 50 percent capacity.
The order also stated that restrictions relating to movement of people and vehicles between 11 pm to 5 am shall continue to be in force, however, shall be relaxed for Kali Puja and Diwali during November 2-5 and for Chhat Puja during November 10-11.
Cinema halls, stadiums, shopping malls, restaurants, gyms allowed to function with 70 percent capacity, it stated.
The night curfew hours in the state will also be relaxed for Kali Puja/Diwali from November 2-5 and on Chhat Puja from November 10-11 .
All government offices related to non-emergency and non-essential services shall now function with 50 percent of total strength. Government offices related to emergency and essential services shall continue to function with 100 percent strength.
Coaching centres for competitive examinations may remain open with 70 percent of capacity at a time.
Restaurants and bars may operate with 70 percent of seating capacity at a time as per normal operational hours but not beyond 11 pm.
The order also stated that indoor social gatherings, including marriage ceremonies, shooting for films and TV programmes and audio recording activities etc will be allowed with 70 percent of capacity of the hall/ venue.
Earlier in the day, the West Bengal government had also announced that schools and colleges will reopen for offline classes on November 16.
In another notification, the Higher Education Department asked teaching and non-teaching staff to go to their colleges and universities from November 1, so that necessary preparations can be made for reopening on November 16.
The District Magistrates have been asked to ensure schools are made ready by October 31 for reopening from November 16.
The vice-chancellors and college principals have also been asked to make the buildings ready by November 1 to pave the way for the resumption of offline classes in undergraduate and postgraduate courses from November 16.
Meanwhile, the daily COVID-19 count in the state on Thursday maintained an upward trend that began since Durga Puja celebrations with the metropolis and its neighbouring districts recording bulk of the cases, according to state Health department data.
As many as nine people died during the day, taking the coronavirus death toll in the state to 19,105, the West Bengal health bulletin said.
The state recorded 990 cases on Thursday as against 976 infections on Wednesday, it said. The eastern state had registered 976, 806, 805, 989, and 974 new cases in the last five days. The positivity rate decreased to 2.18 per cent on Thursday from 2.25 per cent the previous day as the number of daily tests increased from 43,322 to 45,437, it said. The recovery rate stood at 98.29 per cent, it said.
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