Coronavirus: Bihar reports 749 new COVID-19 cases; Patna, other districts announce lockdown

Patna, July 09: Rattled by the biggest single-day spurt yet in COVID-19 cases, Bihar on Wednesday announced fresh lockdown in several regions, including the worst-hit Patna district, that will come into force later this week.

Other districts which will go into varying degrees of lockdown are Nawada, West Champaran, East Champaran and Bhagalpur. According to the state health department's update of the day, 749 people tested positive for the coronavirus in 24 hours, raising the tally to 13,274, while the death toll also touched the three-digit-mark with two fresh casualties.

One death each was reported from Araria and Bhagalpur districts though details like age, sex, co-morbidities and the time of death of the patients were not known immediately.

More than a quarter of the fresh cases were from Patna district alone, which saw its tally rise over the previous day by 235 to 1,351. The district also accounts for 12 casualties so far, the highest number for any district, while the number of active cases stands at an alarming 698.

As part of the containment measures, all government and private offices, except those involved in essential services like electricity, water, sanitation, banks, ATMs, telecommunications and petrol pumps shall remain closed for the seven-day period. The notification issued to this effect also made it clear that "all places of worship shall be closed for public" and "no religious congregations will be permitted, without any exception".

Although the notification issued by the Bhagalpur administration did not use the term "lockdown", the restrictions, imposed under the Regulation, were tantamount to the same. In Nawada, Additional District Collector Om Prakash announced at a press conference that a three-day lockdown will be in force from July 10-12 in view of the worsening situation.