Rajasthan government extends Sec 144 till June 21

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has extended Section 144 of CrPC across the state till June 21, prohibiting gathering of five or more people. The prohibitory orders have been in place since April when the second wave of Covid-19 hit the state. The state is already under lockdown.

The home department issued a notification regarding the extension of Section 144 on Wednesday as the previously issued orders are effective till May 21. The government had earlier imposed night curfew along with Section 144 to contain the spread of the virus, but it didn’t yield desired results, a partial lockdown was imposed. Following the home department notification, all the district collectors will issue orders regarding this in their respective districts.

Jaipur reported 2338 positive cases on Wednesday. The virus claimed 37 more lives. The number of cases across the state was 9849, while 139 people died of Covid-19. Alwar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and Kota continue to be the worst affected districts apart from Jaipur. While Alwar reported 646 cases, Jodhpur and Udaipur reported 524 and 550 cases respectively. In Kota, 530 people tested positive for the virus.

The state has been reporting fewer than 10,000 cases a day for the past two days, while the recovery rate is improving. As many as 16039 people were discharged from hospitals after recovering on Wednesday.

Medical and health department officials said that the lockdown restrictions have played a role in containing the Covid-19 infection rate.