Lockdown in Haryana extended till May 24 with stricter curbs - Details here

The Haryana government on Sunday extended the lockdown in the state till May 24 to contain coronavirus spread. Making the announcement on Twitter, Home and Health Minister Anil Vij said, "Mahamari Alert / Surkshit Haryana extended from 17 May to 24 May. Stringent measures will be taken to implement the alert."

Vij had extended the lockdown from May 10 to May 17 last Sunday.

The first lockdown during the current second Covid-19 wave in Haryana was imposed by the state government on May 3 for a week till May 10. To curb the virus spread, the state government had recently put several other restrictions in place including imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC and daily night curfew.

More than 40 cases of black fungus or Mucormycosis, a rare but serious condition that mainly affects people on medication for other health problems, have been reported in the state in the past few days, news agency PTI reported quoting Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja.

The fungal infection has now been categorised as a notified disease in Haryana, making it imperative that government authorities be informed about each case.

It has been reported that this disease (Black Fungus) is caused by the steroid administered in the treatment of COVID-19 infection.

Haryana on Saturday reported 144 coronavirus deaths and 9,676 fresh cases, pushing the state's infection count to 6,85,312, according to a Health Department bulletin.

So far, 6,546 people have died from the infection in the state. Currently, the state has 95,946 active cases. So far, 5,82,820 people have recovered from the infection, the bulletin said. The cumulative positivity rate stands at 8.36 per cent while the recovery rate is 85.04 per cent.