Amidst rising cases, night curfew in Pune, lockdown in Akola

Pune, Mar 12: Amidst the rising cases of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, a night curfew has been imposed in Pune.

Pune will have a night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am. Schools and colleges will remain shut till March 31, while hotels and bars will be closed from 10 pm to 6 am. In Pune, malls and theatres will remain shut from 10 pm to 6 am during the night curfew, while gardens will be shut during the evenings.

In Akola, the administration has announced a complete lockdown from Friday evening. Akola will have a lockdown from 8 am on Friday until 8 am on Monday.

Eight out of top 10 districts with active COVID-19 cases are in Maharashtra, stated Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in course of a press briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on COVID-19, held at National Media Centre in New Delhi. Pune with 18,474 cases tops the list, followed by Nagpur with 12,724 cases, then Thane with 10,460 cases and Mumbai with 9,973 cases.

The other districts of Maharashtra in the list are Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurangabad. The Health Secretary further stated that active cases are rising in the country, after touching the lowest mark in mid-February.

In the last one month, the states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana have shown a rise in the number of active cases, while the cases have shown a decline in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, he further added. However, the seven days moving average of the daily death count remains low despite rise in active cases in the country, further informed Shri Bhushan.

Speaking in the media briefing, Dr. V.K. Paul, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog stated, "Covaxin is now allowed for restricted use in emergency situation in public interest". He explained saying "This has taken the authorisation for Covaxin to the next level, that is, the same level at which Covishield has been operating". The same licensure now applies to both the vaccines, he added.

Informing about the COVID-19 vaccination scenario in the country, Shri Bhushan stated, more than 2.56 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered till date. This includes more than 67 lakh people above 60 years and people aged 45-60 years with comorbidities. This apart, 71 lakh first doses and 40 lakh second doses have been given to healthcare workers and 70 lakh first doses and 6 lakh second doses have been given to frontline workers till date.