Maharashtra Covid Update: Lockdown In Aurangabad Cancelled; Nashik Introduces Rs 5 Charges For Hour-Long Market Visit

In the past few weeks, Maharashtra has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases with the state reporting 27,918 new cases on Tuesday. There are more than 3.4 lakh active cases at present.

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Even as the cases of coronavirus in Maharasthra don't seem to be subsiding, the lockdown announced in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra from 31 March till 9 April has now been cancelled.

The decision in this regard has been made by the Aurangabad District Collector Sunil Chauhan on Tuesday. "Lockdown which was to be imposed from March 31 in Aurangabad, has now been cancelled. We had submitted a proposal regarding lockdown to the government.  Revised guidelines will be presented soon," said the Aurangabad District Collector added.

The decision to retract the lockdown in Aurangabad has been reportedly taken because of public outcry. The 10-day complete lockdown was to be implemented in Aurangabad from Wednesday onwards and continue until 9 April. Only essential services would have been allowed during this period.

Of the 10 worst affected districts in the country, Aurangabad has been identified among the highest number of coronavirus infections in the country, as per the Union Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the the Nashik district administration has gone ahead to issue new restrictions to limit people from visiting the markets unnecessarily. The people in Nashik will now have to pay ₹5 per person for an hour every time they visit any market in the city, as per news agency ANI.

The new restrictions has been issued by the Nashik Superintendent of Police Deepak Pandey in an attempt to save the city from entering lockdown. 

Maharashtra''s Nashik district on Tuesday saw a single-day addition of 3,532 new COVID-19 cases and 23 casualties, as per PTI sources.  With the latest additions, the tally in the district has reached 1,78,214 and the toll rose to 2,374. Of the latest fatalities, 10 are reported from the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) limits, nine were from other parts of the district and four from Malegaon.

According to the official data, 1,12,557 cases have been recorded so far in Nashik city, followed by 54,797 in other parts of the district, 8,563 in Malegaon and 2,297 outside the district. At least 2,641 patients were discharged from various hospitals during the day, raising the count of recoveries to 1,49,782. 

In the past few weeks, Maharashtra has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases. However, on Tuesday the state witnessed a dip in daily count with over 27,000 infections as against over 31,000 cases reported on 29 March.

There are more than 3.4 lakh active cases at present.

This has taken the count of coronavirus infections in the state to 27,73,436. As many as 23,77,127 people have recovered from the infection till now. The state currently has 3,40,542 active cases, while the death toll has mounted to 54,422 in the state.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had already asked officials to prepare standard operating procedures for a complete lockdown in the state in case it is required in the next few days. However, the CM also expressed concerns regarding economic losses if the second lockdown is implemented. 

The country's total count crossed the 56,000-mark and reached 56,211 in the last 24 hours.  37,028 people were discharged whereas 271 people succumbed to the deadly virus.