Thane, Pune municipal bodies extend lockdown after spike in COVID-19 cases

While Thane has declared lockdown extension upto July 19 evening, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have extended it till July 23.
Health workers, wearing PPE, are escorted by policemen as they arrive to screen people in a slum at North Mumbai. (Photo| ANI)
Health workers, wearing PPE, are escorted by policemen as they arrive to screen people in a slum at North Mumbai. (Photo| ANI)

MUMBAI: After the continuous rise in the COVID-19 cases, the Thane, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Municipal Corporations have extended the lockdown in their jurisdiction regulating public movement and allowing for only essential services.

The Thane Municipal Corporation has issued the circular and declared lockdown between July 12 to 19 between 9 am to 7 pm. Earlier, the civic body had declared the lockdown from July 2 to July 12. For Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, their respective civic bodies have extended the lockdown from July 13 to July 23.

It has been almost 72 days that lockdown has been imposed in Maharashtra. Though the government has given many relaxations, it is resulting a rise in the coronavirus cases.  

Except for Mumbai city, other places such as Thane, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are seeing a rise in COVID-19 positive cases and hence, their respective municipal bodies have decided to extend the lockdown in the strictest form.

The Maharashtra government has delegated power to local authorities to take decisions of extension of lockdown and putting stringent regulations.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that many people are unnecessarily coming out of homes and that has spread the virus. "People should follow social distancing and should come out whenever it is really necessary and urgent. We have to break the chain of the virus. People are roaming out without mask and not taking proper precautions," Pawar said.

He said that rules and government guidelines should be strictly followed in the containment zone. "The virus has been now spreading in rural areas that need to be dealt with strictly. We have to also create the infrastructure so people will not face any issue," said Ajit Pawar.

Pune police have warned the people if they found roaming and travelling without any valid reason the actions will be taken against them. After Mumbai, Pune has the highest number of COVID-19 positive patients i.e. 35,000 with 979 deaths. Thane has reported 13,381 positive cases reported with 516 deaths.

In Maharashtra, total 2,30,599 positive cases and 9667 deaths are reported. In the last few days, there is a rise in the Covid 19 cases every day. Now, every day, more than 6000 cases are reported.

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