Amaravati in Maharashtra will be under one-week lockdown in the wake of a surge in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, the state government announced on Sunday. “One-week complete lockdown will remain in force in Amravati district excluding Achalpur city, beginning 8 pm tomorrow,” news agency ANI quoted Maharashtra’s guardian minister Yashomati Thakur as saying.
Essential services will be allowed to function during the lockdown, Thakur added.
Amravati has seen the sharpest spike in Covid-19 cases across Maharashtra this week. The district recorded the second highest number of cases (806) after the capital city of Mumbai - which saw its tally go up by 897 cases on Saturday, the sharpest spike after November 29.
The Akola division- which comprises of Amravati district and Amravati municipal corporation- added 1,726 new cases and 12 more related deaths on Saturday which pushed the overall tally and death toll of the division to 84,630 and 1,691 respectively.
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The number of Covid-19 cases in Amravati had jumped from 82 on February 16 to 230 on February 17, prompting authorities to impose a weekend lockdown which was supposed to end at 8 pm on Monday. District collector Shailesh Naval had on Friday appealed to the residents to follow all Covid- related protocols failing which strict action would be taken.
{{/usCountry}}The number of Covid-19 cases in Amravati had jumped from 82 on February 16 to 230 on February 17, prompting authorities to impose a weekend lockdown which was supposed to end at 8 pm on Monday. District collector Shailesh Naval had on Friday appealed to the residents to follow all Covid- related protocols failing which strict action would be taken.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the day, Maharashtra’s relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that the state government is considering imposing a night curfew in districts with high prevalence of infection.
“The coronavirus cases are increasing on a daily basis in several districts of Maharashtra. Due to this, an order to enforce the coronavirus norms has been given to all district magistrates. They have also been authorised to take decisions in view of the pandemic situation,” Wadettiwar added.
Maharashtra on Saturday had added more than 6,000 cases (6,281 to be exact) for the second consecutive day. The caseload is nearing 2.1 million and 51,753 people have died till now. Maharashtra continues to remain the worst hit states from the pandemic across India along with Karnataka and Kerala. Amid the upward trend in the overall situation in the state, Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had once again warned residents of another lockdown if they fail to follow all regulations imposed.