With daily COVID-19 cases on the decline, the Jammu and Kashmir State Executive Committee (SEC) on Sunday ended the weekend lockdown and gave one-hour relaxation in night curfew timings.

Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday recorded 1,151 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest in the past week, taking the infection tally to 4,46,648 while nine more deaths linked to the virus pushed the overall fatalities to 4,715.

The weekend lockdown on non-essential activities  was initially announced on January 15. The next week, restrictions were imposed from Friday 2 pm for 64 hours, but again restricted to Saturday and Sunday on January 30 after the business community raised concern and demanded a review of the decision.

Announcing the guidelines after fresh review of the COVID-19 situation on Sunday, the SEC which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary A K Mehta said, night curfew shall continue to remain in force in all districts from 10 pm to 6 am with complete restriction on non-essential movement.

Earlier, the night curfew was from 9 pm till 6 am, thus one hour relief was given to the public.

There was no mention of the weekend lockdown in the official order issued by Mehta, who is also the chairperson of the SEC, indicating the administration’s decision to lift the restrictions on the non-essential movement on Saturday and Sundays from next week.

The SEC, however, retained directions like online classes up to college level, and exemption of pregnant women employees and employees with disabilities from physical attendance in the offices.

The SEC reiterates that the maximum number of people permitted to attend any indoor or outdoor gathering will be strictly restricted to 25, while cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes, restaurants, clubs, gymnasiums and swimming pools are permitted to function at 25 per cent of the authorised capacity with due precautions such as Covid-appropriate behaviour and adherence to standard operating procedure.