COVID-19 in India: Bihar to go into lockdown; night curfew to continue in Chandigarh

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced a lockdown in the state till May 15 due to escalating coronavirus cases.

"Amid increasing COVID-19 cases, restrictions to continue in the state from May 5 to May 15. All state government offices to remain closed, excluding essential services such as district administration, civil defence etc and essential shops," the state's chief secretary said.

Meanwhile in Chandigarh, authorities said night curfew will continue from 6 pm to 5 am every day along with complete weekend curfew. Restricted movement will be allowed from 5pm on May 4 to 5am on May 11, with only essentials shops allowed to remain open. Home delivery is allowed up to 9 pm and takeaways till 5pm.

The central government said a streamlined mechanism for allocation of support supplies received by India has been put into place for effective distribution of the medical and other relief and support material. 

The country has been hit with the second wave of coronavirus with cases crossing the 20-million mark on Tuesday. According to officials, 50,00,000 infections were added in the last 15 days. 

Indian states Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab and Chattishgarh have witnessed increasing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks.

As the coronavirus crisis has deepened in India's capital, the local AAP government said all ration card holders in Delhi, around 7.2 million, will be given free ration for the next two months.

"It doesn't mean that the lockdown will continue for two months. It is just being done to help the poor going through financial issues," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

Amid the pandemic, the Indian defence forces have stepped in. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has set up a 100-bed COVID-19 treatment facility at Air Force Station Jalahalli to be operational from May 6 with 20 beds and oxygen concentrators.

There will also be 10 ICU beds and 40 beds with piped oxygen, 50 beds with oxygen concentrators, it added.