More cities to come under lockdown as COVID tally surges to 8.5 lakh

New Delhi/ Bengaluru/Mumbai: As the country’s COVID-19 tally rose to nearly 8.5 lakh, authorities were getting ready to reimpose lockdown for varying periods in more cities, including in Bengaluru and Pune, in the coming days, while there appeared to be an improvement in the situation in the national capital.
The Uttar Pradesh government decided to implement strict restrictions across the state on weekends to check the spread of coronavirus, joining Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which have been imposing Sunday lockdown.
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Bihar were among the states that have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations. Karnataka government has now announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru for seven days from July 14. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami extended the curbs in Madurai and nearby regions including the Paravai Town Panchayat and several village panchayats till July 14. The Maharashtra government had earlier announced a comprehensive lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad from July 13-23.
The state government had imposed similar curbs in areas around the state capital Mumbai. Authorities in Kashmir too began strict implementation of another phase of the lockdown on Sunday, sealing off historic Lal Chowk and 67 other areas in Srinagar which have been declared containment zones after a sudden surge in COVID-19 positive cases over the past one week.
However, there have been some positive developments in Delhi where the COVID-19 case count on Sunday remained below the 2,000-mark for the second consecutive day. And with the recovery rate improving to nearly 80 per cent, authorities have for now put on hold plans to use stadiums as makeshift coronavirus care facilities. (PTI)