Ranchi, April 27: The Jharkhand government has decided not to implement till May 3 the Centre's guidelines giving relaxations to some shops due to a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said on Monday. He said CRPF personnel have been asked to monitor Ranchi's Hindpiri locality, where the first coronavirus case in the state was detected in a Malaysian woman in March, and then more and more cases followed.

The CM further said that the borders of Ranchi would be sealed to contain the spread of the virus. Fifteen people tested positive for COVID-19 in Jharkhand on Sunday, the highest single-day jump in the number of cases so far. "We have taken some important decisions to stop the pandemic in view of the sudden rise in coronavirus cases in the state. The government will not implement the central guidelines to give relaxation to some shops," Soren told reporters on Monday. Jharkhand Man Placed Under Quarantine Commits Suicide by Jumping from 3rd Floor of Ranchi Hospital.

Stating that no shops will be permitted to open till the last day of the nationwide lockdown on May 3, Soren added that shops dealing in essential commodities would continue to operate. Amending its April 15 order, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday said "all shops, including neighbourhood shops and stand-alone shops, shops in residential complexes, within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities, registered under the the Shops and Establishment Act of the respective state and UT" will be allowed to open during the lockdown.

Soren said he had urged the residents of Hindpiri with folded hands not to move out as positive cases found in other districts were connected to the locality. "It seems they are going out for some reasons, putting others at risk," he said. Urging the residents of that locality, which has become a hotspot for COVID-19, the chief minister said doctors, health workers and officials were engaged day and night to rid the locality of the infection and tests were going on.