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Day before lockdown begins, Nagpur records spike of 1,976 fresh Covid-19 cases
Pune has the highest number of active Covid-19 cases in the country, but its daily rise is lower than Nagpur.
Nagpur recorded 1,976 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, a day before the district comes under a strict lockdown starting from March 15. There has been a steady rise in the number of infections in all districts in Maharashtra, but Nagpur stands conspicuously as the district is reporting more daily cases than Pune, Mumbai — believed to be busier districts than Nagpur. With an unabated rise in the number of daily infections, Nagpur is Maharashtra's first district to bring back lockdown.
Here is how Nagpur came to the lockdown situation
> The district has been reporting around 1,900 new Covid-19 infections daily in the past few days.
> According to the Union health ministry's data, this is the district with the second-highest active Covid-19 cases in India. The first is Pune. The active number of cases refer to the number of people who are presently infection with the disease.
> Pune has the highest number of active Covid-19 cases in the country, but its daily rise is lower than Nagpur. On Sunday, Pune recorded 1,780 fresh Covid-19 cases.
> What is being called the second wave of Covid-19 in Maharashtra started from the Vidarbha region and Nagpur being in this region saw no exception. Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal — other districts of this region — went for restrictions in February itself when the spike was detected. Nagpur too had imposed weekend restrictions in February. But cases did not come down after the weekend lockdown.
> An overall disregard to Covid-19 rules, pandemic fatigue, crowding are being blamed for the rise of cases. These are applicable to Nagpur as well. In fact, ahead of the lockdown from March 15, people were seen flocking to liquor stores flouting social distancing norms.
As Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has clarified, the government is not in favour of bringing back a complete lockdown. However, district administrations have been instructed to take the necessary steps to check the spread of the virus.
