As the coronavirus cases surge, authorities in Pune, Maharashtra have ordered a 12-hour curfew starting from Saturday for a period of at least seven days. The night curfew timings have been decided from 6 pm to 6 am. The review meeting is scheduled for next Friday.
Religious places, hotels, shopping malls and movie theatres will remain closed for the next seven days, said Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao.
Only home deliveries of food, medicines and other essential services will be allowed.
Pune district has been recording a high number of Covid-19 cases. On Thursday, 8,011 new coronavirus cases were reported. On Wednesday, Pune recorded its biggest single-day spike with 8,605 cases. This is the second consecutive day that the cases have crossed the 8,000 mark.
Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, on Thursday, directed the private hospitals to make 80 per cent of beds available for Covid-19 patients. Mohol, however, downplayed the talk of lockdown and said that ‘testing, tracing and vaccination drives have to be increased.’
He said, “Instead testing, tracing and vaccination drives have to be increased,” and warned of stricter measures if the surge could not be controlled.
Apart from Pune, Mumbai is also logging a spike in its cases. On Thursday, the city reported 8,646 coronavirus cases, its highest spike ever in a 24-hour period.
Maharashtra is the worst affected state with over 43,000 cases reported in the past 24 hours. The state has taken a number of measures including limiting movie theatres, halls and offices to 50 per cent capacity.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is to address the state at 8.30 pm.
India has logged 81,484 new Covid-19 cases, its highest spike since December 6.