Sikkim government offices will remain shut till May 7 amid rising COVID-19 cases in the state. The government clarified it was not announcing a lockdown.

The Sikkim Government had earlier announced closure of its offices until April 30. However, considering the trend of 100+ COVID-19 positive cases in the state each day, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang announced an extension to the closure of all government offices on Thursday.

Tamang who was inaugurating the Suswastha Yojana facilitation centre at the Old STNM Hospital on Thursday, said that, ‘We will be shutting down government offices from May 3 to May 7 as there has been a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in Sikkim. It is an attempt at breaking the chain of COVID-19 spread.’

The state cannot afford to go for a complete lockdown. Many small businesses depend on everyday sales to survive. A complete lockdown will impact those very much. Many businesses and tourism stakeholders have requested us to not go for a complete lockdown, later Tamang added.

In Sikkim, there are over 50,000 government and PSU employees and curtailment of their movement from different places will aid the state in controlling the spread of the virus.

The decision came a day after Sikkim recorded it’s all time highest number of COVID-19 cases with 151 cases reported on April 28.