COVID-19: States to Declare Complete Lockdown in 75 Districts with Positive Cases

New Delhi, March 22, 2020:

In a bold step to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Government has decided to lockdown 75 districts across the country till March 31.

These 75 districts are from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

This came after a high-level meeting was held with the Chief Secretaries of all the States , the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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"In view of the need to contain the spread of COVID-19, it was agreed that there is urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport including inter-state transport buses till 31st March 2020," read a statement issued by the Government.

"Following detailed discussions, the State Governments were advised to issue appropriate orders to allow only essential services to operate in the 75 district which have reported confirmed cases or casualties relating to COVID-19," it added.

However, the State Governments may expand the list after proper assessment of the situation in the respective areas.

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Following the meeting, all train services have been suspended till March 31, 2020 including sub-urban rail services. However, goods trains are exempted. All metro rail services have also been suspended till March 31.

It may be mentioned here that India has recorded a total of 341 confirmed cases of coronavirus according to https://www.worldometers.info/ Maharashtra has 63 cases (including 3 foreigners), followed by Kerala with 52 cases (including 7 foreign nationals).

Globally, 308,594 cases of coronavirus have been reported. 13,069 deaths have been reported so far. China, Italy, USA, Spain, Germany, Iran, France, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK are the ten countries with the highest number of cases in the world.

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India is following the fourteen-hour ‘Janata Curfew’ on Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to restrict citizens to their residences. The city of Guwahati, Assam, wore a deserted look on Sunday. Similar sights have been witnessed in the cities of Shillong in Meghalaya, and Gangtok in Sikkim. However, the few people who are out on the streets, are out with a purpose.

All the shops across Assam will remain closed on Monday, the day after the nation-wide Janata Curfew. Speaking on the lines of the ‘Vyapar Bandh’ or business shutdown on Monday, the Jorhat CITU General Secretary said, “Although we have welcomed the decision of the Assam Chamber of Commerce, we also have to keep in mind that the daily utilities’ prices will see a sharp increase in the coming days. Back to back two days of Bandh will certainly impact the business.”

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