Home India Corner Covid-19 in India: 75 Districts Under Complete Lockdown

Covid-19 in India: 75 Districts Under Complete Lockdown

Covid-19 in India
Covid-19 in India

Coronavirus-hit districts in 22 States and Union Territories are under complete isolation till 31st March 2020

The Centre and state governments announced a complete lockdown in 75 districts on March 22 as the nation carried out the Janata Curfew, called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to practice social distancing. The people responded to the initiative by staying indoors and applauding for those who are working tirelessly to battle the virus threat the country is facing. These extraordinary measures were deemed necessary as the number of positive cases has exceeded 400 and the death toll has reached 7, as of March 23.

The government has suspended all passenger trains, inter-city travel, metro services and private cab companies such as Ola and Uber till March 31. A statewide lockdown has been declared by Delhi, Punjab, Jharkhand and Nagaland, exempting necessary services only including food and grocery stores, ration shops, petrol pumps, pharmacies, print and electronic media, ATMs, e-commerce, sanitation and telecom services. The local trains in Mumbai have been suspended and Section 144 is being enforced in several places in Maharashtra as the number of positive cases reaches 90, the highest among all the States. The country has also banned all incoming international flights for a week to contain the spread of the virus.

According to the officials, a high-level meeting between the Cheif Secretaries of all States, the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister took place on March 22, where the authorities decided to go under partial or complete lockdown till March 31; especially where the cases of the virus have been confirmed in the past. The 75 districts under complete lockdown include Delhi, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Gurugram in Haryana, Srinagar, Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Mumbai in Maharashtra, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad in Telangana, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun in Uttarakhand and Kolkata in West Bengal.