On 13 August 2021, the West Bengal government allowed restaurants and bars across the state to operate till 10:30 pm. The information was made public by way of an official notification a day after the state government extended lockdown-like COVID-19 restrictions in the state, till 30 August 2021.
According to the official communiqué, theatres, auditoriums, stadiums and swimming pools in the state can operate at 50 per cent capacity.
The movement of people across the state has been restricted between 11 pm and 5 am, the government order read. Earlier, the night curfew stayed in effect between 9 pm and 5 am. Reportedly, only emergency services will be allowed to operate during night curfew.
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In the meantime, the Metro Railway decided to extend the tenure of its services along Kolkata’s north-south corridor by an hour in the evening, starting 16 August 2021, with the last train leaving terminal stations at 9 in the night.
Also, Kolkata Metro authorities have decided to increase the number of daily trains to 228, from 220, with a peak hour interval of five minutes between trains to manage the increasing passenger count as per Covid-19 protocols.
Local trains shall only be allowed to operate after more people are vaccinated in rural areas of the state, state Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee had said on 12 August 2021.
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As many as six Covid-19-related causalities were reported in West Bengal on 11 August 2021, consequently pushing the death toll in the state to 18,258, reads the data released by the state Health Department. Besides this, the state also recorded 700 fresh cases, taking the total tally of Covid-19 patients in the state to 15,35,699.
