Coronavirus: UP to seal off 15 districts considered hotspots from midnight

Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, April 8

Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to seal hotspots of 15 districts from midnight, a top state official said.

Among those places sealed is state capital Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary RK Tiwari said.

The districts chosen for complete clamp down are the ones where more than six cases have been reported so far.

Speaking to reporters, Tiwari said that the decision had been taken due to the high load of cases reported from these hotspots.

“In an attempt to avoid community spread of COVID 19 the state government have decided to lock down the hotspots in these 15 districts. Only people related to health and delivery services would be allowed”, he said.

These hotspots are to be completely sealed until April 15. During this time, no resident would be allowed to move out on the streets, even go to their rooftops or balconies.

Addressing a joint press conference later in the day, Additional Chief Secretary Avanish Awasthi said that all shops, including medical stores, banks, ATMs, milk supply and grocery shops, will remain closed during this time. The state government would supply essential items at people’s doorsteps, he said.

The districts and the number of hotspots there are Agra (22), Ghaziabad (13), Gautama Buddha Nagar (12) Kanpur (12), Varanasi 94), Shamli (3), Meerut (7), Bareilly (1), Bulandshahr (3), Basti (3), Firozabd (3), Saharanpur (4), Maharajganj (4), Sitapur (1) and Lucknow (12).

Awashti said that all passes issued to media persons, members of NGOs and volunteers will be suspended. Helpline numbers are to be released where residents will call for delivery boys of Municipal Corporation and Department of Food and Civil Supplies to reach essential items, said Awasthi.

However, the areas not part of the hotspots in these 15 districts would continue to remain under lockdown, he said.

Director General of Police HC Awasthi said that during the sealing of the hotspots the areas will be barricaded and completely sanitised with chemical sprays to contain the spread of infection.

While the list of the dozen odd hotspots in Lucknow has not been released so far, people have begun crowding shops to stock up essential supplies.

Fourth death

Meanwhile, the infection claimed a fourth life in the state.

A 76-year old woman who was undergoing treatment at Agra’s Sarojini Naidu Medical College and Hospital died on Wednesday, officials said in the evening.

She got the infection from her grandson who recentky returned from abroad.

The doctors attending on her said that her death was due to age-related complications.

This is the fourth death because of the virus. The first death was reported at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical college hospital on March 25 when a 25-year old youth from Basti died. The second victim was a 72-year old man in Meerut on April 1 and the third victim was a 55-year old shopkeeper from Gangapur in Varanasi who had died on April 3.

Principal Secretary Health Amit Mohan Prasad said that the total number of cases in UP had increased to 343 of which 187 are Tablighi Jamaat related cases. Twenty-seven cases in UP have since been cured and discharged.

Speaking to reporters, he said an analysis of the age group of positive cases revealed that 16 per cent were between the ages of 0 to 20 years, 44 per cent between 21 to 40 years, 27 per cent patients are between 41 to 60 years and barely 13 per cent are above 60 years.

“This is contrary to the trend in other countries and shows that in India good care is being taken of the elderly who are very vulnerable elsewhere,” the principal secretary said.

He also said that with the availability of more testing kits now 1500 more samples would be tested every day. Any suspect coming to government or private hospitals with respiratory problems even in non-corona virus hit districts would in tested, he said.

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