Haryana extends lockdown till May 24 amid COVID-19 surge

The Haryana government on Sunday extended its COVID-induced statewide lockdown by another week. It was earlier scheduled to end on Monday, May 17. In a tweet, State Health Minister Anil Vij said the “Mahamari (Pandemic) Alert” has been extended until May 24, adding that strict measures would be taken to curb the spread of coronavirus during this period.

This is the third time Haryana has extended the ongoing lockdown. The first lockdown was imposed on May 3 for a week and the second and complete one was imposed on May 10 for another week.

Haryana on Saturday reported 9,676 new cases of COVID-19, which took its infection tally to 685,312, according to the health department.

Also read: Delhi lockdown extended till May 24: CM Arvind Kejriwal

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Haryana government declared black fungus a notified disease in the state. The black fungus infection, also known as mucormycosis, is caused by a fungus called mucor.

Now, if any cases of this disease are found, the doctors will have to report them to the concerned chief medical officer (CMO), Vij said in a statement.