New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday (April 16) announced a lockdown across the state on all Sundays till May 15 amid massive surge in COVID-19 cases. Unlike Delhi, the new COVID-19 guidelines do not mention any provision for e-pass. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had announced weekend curfew -- from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday. In Delhi, essential service providers are allowed to move during weekend curfew in the city, but with essential e-passes. Those with valid curfew e-pass are not required to take a separate pass for the weekend curfew. However, no such provision has been issued by the UP government. Meanwhile, in UP, all market offices will remain closed at all urban and rural areas across the state, whereas all essential services will be exempted from any restrictions. As per the notification issued by the state, the restrictions will come into effect at 8 pm on Saturday night and remain in place until 7:00 am on Monday. On Sunday, there will a complete lockdown in both urban and rural regions across the state. The UP government said that a massive sanitisation programme will be carried out across all 75 districts during this period. "All markets, commercial institutions, offices etc will remain closed on Sundays till May 15 for proper implementation of this campaign. It (the closure) will start from Saturday 8 pm till Monday 7 am. However medical and health-related emergencies will remain open," an official statement said quoting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Along with this, the government also issued directions to authorities to impose fines on those found without wearing face masks. A fine of Rs 1000 will be imposed on those caught without face masks for the first time and 10 times the fine amount for those caught again. "There will be a weekly closure in all rural and urban areas of the state on Sunday. Only sanitation, sanitisation and emergency services will operate during this period. Necessary awareness works should also be done in this regard," the statement read. (With PTI inputs) Live TV

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