Hot spots in 15 UP districts to be sealed
LUCKNOW: Hot spots of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including parts of the National Capital Region -- places which have seen multiple Covid-19 cases -- will be completely shut down to contain the spread of the infection, senior officials in the government said.
Stringent restrictions will come into effect at midnight Wednesday in 105 such pockets in Uttar Pradesh which, according to the Union health ministry, has reported 343 Covid-19 cases and at least three deaths till Wednesday. The restrictions include prohibiting people in these areas from stepping out of their homes to buy essential good, additional chief secretary (ACS) Awanish Kumar and director general of police (DGP) Hitesh Awasthi said at a joint press conference.
However, essential supply will be delivered to people’s homes, they said.
A decision to seal the hot spots in 15 districts having six or more Covid-19 positive cases was taken after chief minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with the senior officials to review the implementation of the lockdown imposed to stop the spread of the infection.
Gautam Buddh Nagar, which houses Noida, and Ghaziabad are among the districts where the new restrictions will come into effect till April 15, when a r e v i e w o f t h e meas u r e is expected to take place.
The hot spots were also identified in Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi, Agra, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahar, Basti, Firozabad, Saharanpur, Maharajganj and Sitapur.
Chief secretary RK Tiwari, in his orders issued to officials of the 15 districts, said the hot spots should be completely sealed as there was high viral load of