The Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh on late Saturday night issued fresh COVID-19 guidelines for the state, relaxing the curbs further. However, the order said that a corona curfew will be reimposed again in districts with over 500 active COVID-19 cases.

As per the new guidelines, shopping malls, hotels, eateries, restaurants and public parks can reopen with 50 per cent of their capacity from June 21 for five days a week from 7 am to 9 pm. It also said that 50 people can attend marriages and wedding ceremonies in the state.

However, only 50 people would be allowed inside places of worship. Gyms, cinema halls, swimming pools, clubs, stadiums, schools, colleges and other educational institutions, on the other hand, would continue to remain closed.

The guidelines further said that a night curfew would be observed across the state from 9 pm to 7 am from Monday to Friday while a complete curfew would be imposed on weekends — Saturdays and Sundays.

It would be compulsory for people to follow appropriate COVID-19 norms, including the usage of masks and sanitisers and practising social distancing, the guidelines stated.

The state government has also directed the local officials to ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination drive in their respective districts. So far, Uttar Pradesh has administered 2.50 crore vaccine doses.

“We are preparing to administer 10 lakh more vaccines from July 1,” said Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad.

Currently, Uttar Pradesh has less than 5,000 active COVID-19 cases while 16.77 lakh patients have recovered from the infection. On the other hand, the death toll in Uttar Pradesh has crossed the grim mark of 17,000 while the positivity rate has dipped to 0.1 per cent, as per the state health department.