All those districts in Uttar Pradesh where six or more coronavirus positive cases have been reported will face stricter lock down and hotspots in these districts will be completely sealed off, the state administration said on Wednesday. Consequently, all movement passes issued in these districts shall be reviewed and all unnecessary passes would be revoked.
The districts with more than six cases include Agra, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandsheher, Basti, Saharanpur, Maharajganj, Sitapur and Firozabad.
Until now, passes were issued to wholesalers, milk vendors, pharmacies, civil society organisations and the like to maintain essential services in these districts. However, with the new order, home delivery will be mandatory in the identified areas. Ration and provision shops as well as medicine shops will also be shut down in the hotspot areas. Media will also be not allowed entry in the sealed areas.
An order issued by the state’s Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari said the authorities would ensure that social distancing was being strictly followed in the affected areas.
All homes will be checked and sanitised. Arrangements shall be made to ferry workers of factories and those organisations who have to mandatorily be on the job in pooled vehicles. In addition, only those people who are involved in the distribution of mandatory items shall be allowed on the roads.
Patrolling is to be intensified in the said areas as well while all orders issued by the health department shall be strictly followed.
The state’s Additional Chief Secretary, Avnish Awasthi, announced that further modalities of the plan shall be decided in a meeting to be chaired by CM Yogi Adityanath later in the day.
In an earlier meeting on Wednesday, the chief minister emphasised that all health workers and police personnel be protected. The provision of rations to the poor is to continue unfettered and it shall be strictly monitored. Banks have been stopped from issuing recovery notices to farmers till May 31. In addition, no one in the state shall be permitted to be out without a mask.
In the capital city of Lucknow, there have been reports of people turning out in huge numbers in areas of the older city from where a majority of COVID-19 cases have been reported.
As on Wednesday, UP has 343 confirmed cases of COVID-19.