COVID-19: No plans for day curfew in Tripura due to economic implications, says CM

Agartala (Tripura) [India], January 16 : Though COVID-19 cases are rising across the country, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Sunday clarified that in view of the economic aspect, the state government has no intention to impose curfew in the daytime.
He advised that people should strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines and stay in self-isolation if they observe any related symptoms.
Briefing the media persons on the sidelines of his visit to a COVID-19 vaccination centre at Camperabazar area under West Tripura district, Deb said, "This is, indeed, true that the positivity rate in Agartala Municipal Corporation area has taken an alarming turn. Yesterday, the positivity rate of the AMC areas was 28.23 per cent which is much higher than normal."
"But we should not panic in the situation. Patients can easily be cured by staying in home isolation and in case of any emergency, the health workers, ASHA workers are there to assist," the Chief Minister said.
On the day curfew, he said the overall positivity rate in Tripura stands at 13 per cent and the night curfew has been imposed to contain the spread to an extent, but, at this point of time, the state government is not willing to impose day-time curfew taking its economic implications into consideration.
"The way we are trying to drive Tripura towards economic development should not get halted in middle. I would rather appeal to the people of Tripura to maintain the guidelines and strictly follow the restrictions like wearing masks, avoiding gatherings etc," Deb added.
"I hope whether it is Omicron or the third wave of the Covid 19, people of Tripura shall fight it back successfully", said the Chief Minister.
Deb also thanked PM Modi for gifting India with two "Swadeshi (indigenous)" COVID-19 vaccines.
"Today, over 157 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far. A total of 76 crore doses were given to womenfolks of India. This is a big achievement as today is the first anniversary of the vaccination drive", he added.
Sharing a brief detail of the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Tripura, he said that around 99.53 per cent of eligible beneficiaries in Tripura received the first dose of the vaccines while 82.35 per cent of people are fully vaccinated with two jabs.
"Tripura is far ahead of the national average and in terms of the 15 to 17 years children, our achievement is 42 per cent at par with the national average," he said.
"The exams are over and physical classes till 7th standard have already been suspended. Now, we shall initiate a drive-in mission mode to complete the vaccination of children in the age group of 15 to 17 years in schools," Deb said.
Deb also physically inspected the site of a new hospital being built at Camperbazar and said that Rs 3 crore had been sanctioned to convert the sub-centre into an urban primary health centre.
According to the daily COVID-19 media bulletin, a total of 1,070 new positive cases were detected in the past 24 hours as a result of 8,752 total tests. Three persons have died due to COVID-related complications.