Amravati: Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few days, the lockdown in Maharashtra's Amravati and Achalpur has been extended till March 8. The weekend lockdown was supposed to be in place from 8 pm on Saturday (February 20) to 7 am on Monday (February 22), which has now been extended to a week's time.
In the meantime, Anjangaon Surji town in the district has been declared a containment zone owing to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
During the lockdown, shops, except those dealing in essential commodities, were ordered to remain shut. The lockdown also forced the educational institutions, coaching classes, training schools to remain shut until March 8.
Public places like cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools, parks have been ordered to remain shut and gatherings for entertainment, educational, cultural, religious purposes are not permitted in the district. Hotels in these districts cannot operate beyond 9 pm.
Meanwhile, a night curfew has been imposed in the Wardha district in Nagpur as well. All the activities, except the essentials ones, to remain suspended from 8 pm on Saturday (February 27) to 8 am on Monday (March 1). Medical stores will be open during the curfew timings, whereas petrol pumps will remain closed.
The decision of imposing the lockdown in these districts comes after repetitive warnings from the government.
"Coronavirus cases are rising in Nagpur, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Mumbai and Pune. We have asked the district administration to take a call on lockdown or other restrictions after assessing the situation on the ground," Maharashtra minister of social welfare, Vijay Wadettiwar said earlier last week.
As per the latest update by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra has 65,461active cases with 20,12,367 recoveries and 51,993 deaths so far. India reported as many as 16,577 new COVID-19 cases and 120 deaths during the last 24 hours.With this, the total coronavirus caseload in the country has gone up to 1,10,63,491, including 1,55,986 active cases and 1,07,50,680 discharges. The COVID-19 death toll reached 1,56,825 on Friday.
