Coronavirus: Week-long lockdown announced in Haryana from tomorrow
The Haryana government on Sunday announced a state-wide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19. Earlier, the state had imposed a weekend lockdown in nine out of 22 districts where infections were rising at an alarming rate. The decision comes as the state reported over 13,000 infections for the third consecutive day on Saturday. Here are more details.
State Minister Anil Vij announced lockdown on Twitter
Haryana Health and Home Minister Anil Vij said in a tweet on Sunday, "Starting May 3, Monday, there will be a full lockdown across Haryana for seven days." At 10 pm on Friday, nine Haryana districts went into a weekend lockdown, which will remain effective until 5 am on Monday. The districts include Panchkula, Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak, Karnal, Hisar, Sirsa, and Fatehabad.
Active cases have grown 10X over past month
As of Saturday, Haryana reported a total of 5,01,566 infections, up from just 2,92,409 on April 1. Active cases rose ten-fold from 10,362 to 1,02,516 during the period. The state now has a death toll of 4,341. On Saturday alone, the state had added 13,588 new cases and 125 more deaths, the highest number of one-day fatalities since the pandemic began.
Lockdown in neighboring Delhi was extended yesterday
In neighboring Delhi, the ongoing lockdown was extended by another week. The lockdown had come into force on April 19 and has since been extended twice. Several other states have announced restrictions as India finds itself in the grips of the second wave of COVID-19. On Friday, West Bengal had announced a partial lockdown, a day after Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu tightened restrictions.
Top US expert recommends country-wide shutdown for weeks
Earlier this week, Maharashtra—India's worst-hit state in the outbreak—had also extended COVID-19 restrictions in the state till May 15. Notably, the United States' White House Chief Medical Adviser and top pandemic expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has recommended shutting down India for a few weeks.
