Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh administration Wednesday ordered the sealing of all coronavirus hotspots in 15 districts, including Noida and Ghaziabad, till 15 April.
The order was issued by Chief Secretary R.K. Tiwari and will be effective from Wednesday midnight. The districts affected are Ghaziabad, Agra, Lucknow, GautamBuddh Nagar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Sitapur, Bareilly, Bulandshahr, Firozabad, Basti, Saharanpur and Maharajganj.
All hotspots will be identified by the evening, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Awanish Awasthi said.
According to him, Agra has 22 hotspots, the most in the state, followed by Ghaziabad with 13, Noida with 12 and Lucknow with 8.
“The hotspots in these districts will be completely sealed. Only medical vehicles will be allowed and no one will be allowed to perform any other activity,” he said, adding the decision was taken on the directives of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after he held a review meeting.
Tiwari said the situation will be reviewed on 15 April and further orders will be issued thereafter.
The nationwide lockdown ordered by the Narendra Modi government will remain in effect till 14 April.
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What the lockdown means
During the lockdown, except for personnel of essential services, no one will be allowed to come on to the streets, and even go to the market.
All shops, including those selling grocery items and vegetables, which were allowed to function under the Centre’s guidelines, are now being ordered to shut in the UP districts.
Instead, the administration will arrange for home delivery of essential goods, said the order issued by the chief secretary’s office. However, details of the delivery system are yet to be made clear.
The order further said curfew passes issued so far would be reviewed.
UP registered another coronavirus-related death Wednesday, taking the total number of deaths to four in the state. There are over 300 active cases in UP, of which 193 were people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi last month.
India crossed the 5,000-mark after more than 300 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.
(With PTI inputs)
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