As the number of coronavirus cases in Nagpur has been surging rapidly, district guardian minister Nitin Raut on Wednesday announced that the district will go under lockdown from March 15 to 21, AFP reported. The number of COVID-19 cases recorded daily in the city has been rising since February.

After a top official meeting that Raut attended, he informed the media that lockdown between the given date will be enforced within the Nagpur Police Commissionerate limits.

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Under the new set of lockdowns, private offices will remain closed completely. The government offices will remain open but only with a 25% capacity. Essential shops will remain open during this time and liquor will be sold online, Raut said. Unnecessary movement by the public should be avoided, as per regulations from the government.

Currently, there are 12,166 active cases in the city with 1710 new cases that were recorded yesterday. The COVID tally in the district has reached 162,053, and the number of recorded deaths is 4,417.

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Last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray had appointed 36 guardian ministers for each district in the state. Raut is responsible for Nagpur.

Strict lockdown in other parts of the state 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said strict lockdown measures will be enforced in some parts of the state to contain the spread of COVID-19. Thackeray, 60, was speaking after receiving the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 at the government-run J J Hospital here.

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 13,659 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike this year, which took the state’s caseload to 22,52,057.

The state has so far reported 52,610 deaths due to the disease, as per official data.

“Some areas of Maharashtra will witness strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection. The government is going to hold a special meeting with officials before coming out with the lockdown measures,” Thackeray said.