Jaipur, Apr 23 (IANS): Amid the alarming surge in the number of Covid cases in the state, the Rajasthan government on Friday issued stricter guidelines for the lockdown period during which the shops selling essential commodities shall remain open only for four hours from 6 am to 11 am.

According to the new guidelines, which will come into effect from 5 am on April 25, milk shops will be allowed to open in morning from 6 am to 11 am and in the evening from 5 pm to 7 pm.

Shops selling processed food, restaurants and sweet shops shall, however, remain closed and only home delivery will be permitted.

Marriage ceremonies shall be limited to one day and only one programme will be held on the occasion with not more than 50 persons in attendance. Government employees will monitor the wedding programmes to ensure that the guests don't flout the norms.

Also, transportation of people in private vehicles from one city to another has been restricted. However, intra-state buses will operate with 50 per cent capacity.

All the offices will be sealed except those engaged in providing essential and selected services.

Petrol will also be available from 7 am to 12 noon for private vehicles.

Strict weekend curfew guidelines will be followed from Friday evening to Monday morning.

On Friday, the state reported 14,468 new Covid cases, which took its active caseload to 107,157 while 59 deaths took its cumulative death toll to 3,389.

The fortnight-long lockdown shall continue till May 3.