1 week lockdown imposed in Amravati District of Maharashtra
1 week lockdown imposed in Amravati District of Maharashtra
T
he Amravati district in Maharashtra will be detained for about a week amid growing COVID-19 cases in the province. Cabinet Minister Yashomati Thakur said the closure would begin on Monday evening. The government said only essential services would be allowed to operate during the seven-day closure. The suspension will be extended if people do not comply with safety rules, the minister said, adding that the decision to suspend all non-essential activities was taken after the COVID-19 cases continued to grow in Maharashtra.
The announcement of the detention in Amravati comes just hours after Pune district authorities closed schools and training centers until February 28. Deputy Prime Minister Ajit Pawar met with senior officials to assess the state of COVID-19 in the region before making a decision. Earlier today, Maharashtra's Minister, Vijay Wadettiwar, said they were considering a deadline for late-night arrival and a decision would be made at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray. "Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Nagpur, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Mumbai and Pune. We have asked district officials to call for closures or other obstacles after looking into the situation on the ground," Mr Wadettiwar said.
Maharashtra today reported 6,971 new cases and 35 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Of these, 921 reported cases came from Mumbai. A total of 2 417 were released from hospital.
Cases are on the rise in other regions amid the COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 240 new strains of coronavirus have emerged across India, which are the cause of an increase in the number of infections seen last week, Dr Shahshank Joshi, a member of the COVID-19 Task Force of Maharashtra, told NDTV.
The government's immunization program is based on building up the immune system by vaccinating a critical number of people. In the first phase of the vaccine, the government plans to vaccinate three crore health workers and paramedics. After that it will turn to 27 people who are under the age of 50 or have a comorbid illness.
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