New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday (July 9) announced a three-day lockdown in the state from 10 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday (July 13). During this period, all offices, food grain markets, and other commercial establishments will remain closed and the supply of essentials will be ensured through doorstep delivery, according to a government statement.
However, The movement of trains and air services will continue but road transport will be shut down. Buses, however, will be made available to air and train passengers. Petrol pumps and hospitals will function normally.
The three-day lockdown is being enforced in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state.
The official statement said that goods carriers will be allowed to operate and construction activities will also continue.
In the last 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh has reported 1,248 new COVID-19 positive cases, said Amit Mohan Prasad, State Principal Secretary (Health) on Thursday, while addressing a daily briefing over coronavirus situation in the state.
"In the last 24 hours, 1,248 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in the state. There are 10,373 active cases, 21,127 discharged so far and 862 patients have succumbed to the infection," Prasad said, adding "A total of 32,826 samples were tested yesterday. 10,36,106 samples have been tested in the state so far."
Prasad said that 7 new RT-PCR laboratories will start operating in the next 2-3 days, adding "We are going to open seven new RT-PCR laboratories in the next 2-3 days at Aligarh, Varanasi, Gonda, Moradabad, Bareilly, Mirzapur, and Lucknow."
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said that a total of 2,22,854 people have been fined after registering 87,147 FIRs for violation of COVID guidelines, adding "So far 61,619 vehicles have been seized and Rs 41.65 crores were recovered from the violators."
Union Health Ministry today stated that the country has witnessed the highest single-day spike of 24,879 new positive cases and 487 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 7,67,296.
