Covid 19 latest: 10-day lockdown in Pune, clamped on the back of highest single-day spike

Pune is Maharashtra’s second worst affected district after Mumbai.

Highest single day spike in Covid cases in Maharashtra’s second worst-affected district, registered on Thursday, has led to administration deciding to clamp a 10-day-long complete lockdown in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and some parts of Rural Pune from July 13 to July 23.

Pune is grappling with the rising number of coronavirus cases in the district.(Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

1,803 new Covid-19 cases reported on Thursday pushed the district’s overall count to 34,399, PTI quoted a health official as saying on Friday.

34 new casualties have taken the death toll in the district to 978.

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“Complete lockdown announced for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and some parts of Rural Pune from 13th July to 23rd July. Only shops related to essential services like dairy and medical stores and hospitals will remain open,” Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On Thursday, 1,032 cases out of 1,803 were reported from within the Pune municipal corporation (PMC) limits, where the number of positive patients has reached 24,977, the official quoted above added. 573 new cases were reported from the Pimpri Chinchwad region, taking the total count in the industrial township to 6,982.

The rural parts of the district and the areas in the Pune cantonment board have risen to 3,138.

The administration has identified 22 villages in the rural parts of Pune district where this lockdown will be implemented. The Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said that containment zones will be added to these villages apart from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas.

Pune is not the only district in Maharashtra to go for increased restrictions as the state struggles to cope with the rising number of coronavirus cases. Aurangabad is also observing nine-day long Janta curfew aimed at disrupting the chain of transmissions.

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The decision to clamp a hard lockdown comes as the cases in Pune witness a rapid rise. On Wednesday, Pune city had reported 1,006 new coronavirus cases, which was a new record for most number of daily cases till it was overshadowed by nearly 2,000 cases on Thursday.

ON Thursday, Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally rose to 2,30,599 with the addition of 6,875 new cases. The state also reported 219 deaths, taking the toll to 9,667, the state health department had said.

The statement said the case recovery rate in the state was 55.19per cent, while the fatality rate stood at 4.19 per cent.