Weekend lockdown, curfew for India’s richest state as virus surge worsens

India’s wealthiest state Maharashtra, house to the nation’s monetary capital Mumbai, will impose a weekend lockdown and night time curfew on its 110 million individuals because it battles a spike in COVID-19 instances, authorities mentioned Sunday.

India reported 93,249 new every day infections on Sunday, the very best enhance since September, with Maharashtra a significant contributor.

From Monday night time till the tip of April, an evening curfew will likely be imposed, gatherings of greater than 4 individuals banned, and personal places of work, eating places, cinemas, swimming swimming pools, bars, locations of worship and public locations reminiscent of seashores shut.

On weekends, solely important providers could be allowed to function.

“Whereas imposing these restrictions, on the one hand, care has been taken to not have an effect on the state’s financial cycle and to not harass the employees and labourers, and emphasis has been laid on closing crowded locations,” the state authorities mentioned in an announcement late Sunday.

Public transport providers could be allowed to function, however at 50 p.c capability. Industrial and manufacturing actions within the state, in addition to movie shoots in Mumbai, the house of Bollywood, could be allowed to proceed if well being measures are noticed.

The announcement got here as Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who lives in Mumbai, mentioned Sunday that he has examined optimistic for COVID-19—the newest Indian movie star to contract the virus within the nation of 1.3 billion individuals.

“I want to inform everybody that, earlier this morning, I’ve examined optimistic for COVID-19,” the 53-year-old actor tweeted.

He added that he was in house quarantine and has “sought needed medical care”.

Saturday additionally noticed Indian spin star Axar Patel announce he had examined optimistic and was in isolation forward of the beginning of the profitable Twenty20 Indian Premier League event.

The information got here only a day after Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar mentioned he had been hospitalised as a precautionary measure after testing optimistic every week earlier.

Sharp rise

India, which has the world’s third-highest variety of instances after the US and Brazil, has reported nearly 12.5 million infections and greater than 164,000 deaths to date.

Single-day infections have been rising since early February once they fell to under 9,000 after peaking at nearly 100,000 in September.

Mumbai, a megacity of 20 million individuals, recorded its highest single-day spike on Sunday with 11,163 contemporary instances.

India has recorded greater than 483,000 instances within the final seven days—a rise of 37 p.c in comparison with the earlier week, in accordance with an AFP database.

Brazil recorded over 463,000 instances, however with a lowering development from the earlier week, and the US reported slightly below 451,000 infections.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, authorities mentioned a seven-day lockdown could be imposed from Monday, with all home journey providers together with flights suspended, and malls and retailers shut.

Banks could be allowed to open for simply 2.5 hours on weekdays, whereas private and non-private sector companies had been instructed to solely have a skeleton crew of their places of work.

“The corona(virus) infections are spreading quick. The an infection and demise charges are leaping,” Street Transport Minister Obaidul Quader mentioned in a video message late Saturday.

“In view of the prevailing scenario, the Sheikh Hasina authorities has determined to implement a lockdown throughout the nation for seven days ranging from Monday.”

The nation of 168 million individuals has been grappling with a pointy rise in instances in latest weeks.

Well being authorities reported 7,087 new instances on Sunday —the very best because the begin of the pandemic—taking the an infection toll to only below 640,000.

© 2021 AFP