In a bid to curb the spread of Coronavirus, a fortnight-long “strict” lockdown will be imposed in Latur city in Marathwada region from the midnight of July 15. The further guidelines on the lockdown will be shared on Monday evening. Notably, the district has so far reported 682 coronavirus positive cases and 33 deaths. 

“The lockdown will start from July 15 midnight and end on July 30. The essential and emergency services will continue to operate. However, liquor shops will be shut from Monday itself,” Collector G Shreekant said.

“The lockdown will be strict and the fine for not following the norms is higher than what was during the previous lockdown,” Shreekant said.

The decision about the lockdown in rural parts of Latur district will be taken after a meeting of public representatives on Monday, he said.

“During the lockdown, we plan to collect the swabs of suspected patients from their homes through our teams,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) in Thane district of Maharashtra had extended the ongoing lockdown in the township till July 19. The ongoing lockdown in Bhiwandi had started on July 2 and was to end Sunday midnight.

Meanwhile, the Vartak Nagar ward committee of the Thane civic administration on Sunday issued an order prohibiting all activities, except for the sale of medicines and milk, in Shivai Nagar, Ganesh Nagar, Sainath Nagar and Misalwadi till further notice after spurt in COVID-19 cases in these areas.

Meanwhile, still remaining the worst COVID-hit state in the country, Maharashtra on Sunday registered a spike of 7,827 COVID cases, taking the total infection tally in the state to 2,54,427. With 173 more patients succumbing to the infection, the number of fatalities further rose to 10,289, the health department said in a statement. 

A total of 3,340 people were discharged in the day, taking the number of the recovered cases to 1,40,325, it said. 13,17,895 people have been tested so far. 

The number of active cases in the state now stands at 1,03,813. 

Meanwhile, with a record single-day spike of 28,637 new coronavirus cases and 551 deaths in the last 24 hours, India’s total cases neared 8.5 lakh with the death toll up to 22,674, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data said today in a morning update.

According to the data, of the total 8,49,553 cases, as many as 5,34,620 patients have recovered. A total of 2,92,258 cases remain active in the country. During the last 24 hours, 2,80,151 more tests were conducted across the country. Source :

Story Source : www.india.com