Lucknow, Aug 11 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday directed officials to consider a partial relaxation in the weekend closure of shops and business establishments as the pandemic situation has improved considerably in the state.

According to a government spokesman, he has asked the home department to present detailed guidelines in this regard.

At present, markets, shops and business establishments are allowed to open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Friday, while Saturday and Sunday are the weekly closure days.

However, the chief minister now wants partial relaxation in two-day weekly closure of shops and markets.

He has also directed officials to ensure Covid protocols are followed everywhere and there should not be any unnecessary congregation of people anywhere.

There has been a marked improvement in the pandemic situation as 12 districts have no active Covid cases as of now.

Districts with no active cases include Aligarh, Amethi, Chitrakoot, Etah, Firozabad, Gonda, Hathras, Kasganj, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Shamli and Sonbhadra while the recovery rate stands at 98.6 per cent.

On Tuesday, 59 of 75 districts did not report even a single fresh Covid case whereas in the remaining 16 districts, the number of new cases was less than 10.

The state government has also allowed secondary, higher, technical and vocational educational institutions to reopen after Independence Day with 50 per cent attendance.

The chief minister has asked the officials to organise vaccination camps on the premises of universities, schools and colleges for students above 18 years of age.

The chief minister also said that the process of new admissions should be started from classes 6 to 8. Assessing the situation, teaching-learning can be started in these schools from September 1.