Covid-19: Maharashtra’s Jalna orders shutdown of schools, colleges, weekly markets till March 31

“Jalna district collector has ordered to shut schools, colleges, coaching classes and weekly markets in the district till March 31, due to current Covid-19 situation," superintendent of police V Deshmukh said.

Educational institutions and weekly markets in Maharashtra’s Jalna district have been ordered to shut down till March 31 as cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have been surging in the state, reports said on Wednesday. Officials said, according to ANI, that the district collector has ordered for a periodical Covid-19 test of all the fruit, vegetable and newspaper vendors in Jalna.

Passengers line up to get their temperatures checked at a train station in Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. Cases of COVID-19 are increasing in some parts of India after months of a steady nationwide decline, prompting authorities to impose lockdowns and other virus restrictions.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) (AP)

“Jalna district collector has ordered to shut schools, colleges, coaching classes and weekly markets in the district till March 31, due to current Covid-19 situation. Rapid antigen test of all vegetable, fruit, newspaper vendors will be conducted periodically,” ANI quoted Jalna’s superintendent of police V Deshmukh as saying.

The decision was implemented by the district collector Ravindra Binwade after a meeting with officials on Tuesday, news agency PTI reported citing an official. According to the report, schools will function normally for Classes 10 and 12, while permissions for social, political and religious gatherings have been withdrawn. The famous Shri Rajur Ganpati temple in Bhokardan tehsil has been closed too, as per the administration’s decision.

Maharashtra, along with few other states, has been seeing a spike in the number of daily new Covid-19 cases reported since the past week. The central government on Tuesday said that while two new Covid-19 variants -- N440K and E484K -- have been detected in Maharashtra but also mentioned that the variants might not be behind the surge in cases.

On February 22, authorities in the Amravati district implemented a week-long lockdown, ordering all shops, except those selling essential commodities, schools and colleges to be shut. On Tuesday, 926 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the district, in the highest single-day spike, according to a PTI report. Aurangabad district collector Shailesh Naval, on Tuesday, ordered a night curfew in the city from 11pm to 6am that would last until March 8, according to a report by ANI.

(With agency inputs)