10-day complete lockdown in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad from July 13 as COVID-19 cases rise

A day after Pune district in Maharashtra reported its highest single-day spike of 1,803 new COVID-19 cases, the administration decided to impose a 10-day lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus. 

All offices and other businesses will remain closed in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and some parts of rural Pune from July 13 July to July 23, except for those providing essential services, an official said. 

Only shops related to essential services like dairy, medical stores and hospitals will remain open, Pune Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said. 

Besides complete lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, 22 villages have been identified in rural parts of Pune district where this lockdown will be implemented. 

"Apart from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area, containment zones these villages will be added," Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said.

This comes after Pune district reported 1,803 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, its highest one-day spike. With this, the total number of cases in the district has reached 34,399, a health official said. 

With record 34 people dying due to the infection on Thursday, the death toll in the district reached 978. 

"Of the 1,803 cases, as many as 1,032 were reported from the areas located in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, where the number of patients has reached 24,977," the official said. 

COVID-19 count in the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad is 6,982 while Pune district's rural parts have reported 3,138 cases.