The Centre on Sunday advised state governments to issue appropriate orders to allow only essential services to operate in around 80 districts of India that have reported confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. This amounts to a lockdown for these respective districts as no trains, metros and interstate buses will not be allowed to operate from Monday till March 31. Only essential services will be allowed to run.
The districts include Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai among others. See the full list here.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his government has decided to impose lockdown from 6 am on Monday till March 31. He said no public transport services, including private buses, autos, and e-rickshaws, will be allowed to operate during this period. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure will come into effect from 9 pm today and will remain in force till March 31. Borders will be closed too.
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar said his government has notified the lockdown in seven districts. It will start from Sunday 9 pm and will remain effective till March 31.
Kolkata and several areas across West Bengal will be put under a lockdown from 5 pm on Monday till March 27, according to a notification issued by the state government. Siliguri, Darjeeling and Kurseong towns will also be put under the lockdown, apart from other urban areas in different parts of the state, the notification added.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath announced that 15 districts in the state, including Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur, will be under lockdown from Monday till Wednesday in first phase.
In Nagaland, an indefinite lockdown has been imposed from Sunday midnight. An order issued by the Chief Secretary Temjen Toy said all shops excluding those selling essential items will remain closed till further orders. Vehicles carrying inter-state transit passengers will be allowed till midnight of March 23, the order added.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the state will be on lockdown till March 31 as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19, reported ANI.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the lockdown in the state will be in force till March 31. The state government also announced closure of inter-state borders for transport till March 31 and asked people to step out of their homes only for essential needs.
The nine COVID-19-affected districts in Karnataka are Bengaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Mysuru, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada (Mangaluru), Dharwad, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Chikkaballapur. The lockdown will begin from Sunday midnight and will remain in place till April 1, an order issued by the state government said.
Certain districts of Maharashtra will be shut down till March 31.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the state government will enforce lockdown in all district headquarters, municipal towns and block headquarters till March 31, PTI reported.
In Jammu and Kashmir, all establishments and services, except essential commodities, were asked to shut down till March 31 too, while Jharkhand has also ordered a lockdown.
In Meghalaya, government offices are working at 50% capacity, while it is adopting a “one day open, two days closed” method. For instance, between March 23 and 25, the state government said on March 23, all essential services will be open, while private establishments must remain closed. Public transport will run at 25% of its normal frequency. On March 24 and 25, all public transport will stop running, gatherings of five or more people will be banned, and all services besides health, and other essential services will be prohibited from functioning.
Arunachal Pradesh will be on lockdown from 5 pm on Monday till March 31.
Other states going into lockdown are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry and Uttarakhand.
These details will be updated as more information comes in.
Joint Health Secretary Lav Agarwal at a press briefing on Sunday said essential services are clearly defined and include availability of food, ration, groceries, milk, medical services, transport of essential needs among others.
Here is a list of districts on lockdown as of Sunday evening:
- Andhra Pradesh: Prakasam, Vijaywada and Vizag
- Chandigarh: Chandigarh
- Chhattisgarh: Raipur
- Delhi: Central, East Delhi, North Delhi, North West Delhi, North East Delhi, South Delhi and West Delhi
- Gujarat: Kutchh, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad
- Haryana: Faridabad, Sonepat, Panchkula, Panipat and Gurugram
- Himachal Pradesh: Kangra
- Jammu & Kashmir: Srinagar and Jammu
- Karnataka: Bengaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Mysuru, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada (Mangaluru), Dharwad, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Chikkaballapur
- Kerala: Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kannur, Kasargod, Kottayam, Mallapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur
- Ladakh: Kargil and Leh
- Madhya Pradesh: Jabalpur
- Maharashtra: Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Mumbai Sub-Urb, Pune, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane and Yavatmal
- Odisha: Khurda
- Puducherry: Mahe
- Punjab: Hoshiarpur, SAS Nagar and SBS Nagar
- Rajasthan: Bilwara, Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Jaipur
- Tamil Nadu: Chennai, Erode and Kanchipurum
- Telangana: Bhadradri Kothagudam, Hyderabad, Medchai, Ranga reddy and Sanga Reddy
- Uttar Pradesh: Agra, GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Lakhimpur Kheri and Lucknow
- Uttarakhand: Dehradun
- West Bengal: Kolkata and North 24 Parganas
The national helpline number for the coronavirus is 011-23978046 and the toll-free number is 1075.
Here are helpline numbers for states and the Union Territories: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf
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