Mumbai: In view of the Covid-19 cases flaring up in Maharasthra, a complete lockdown has been imposed in Aurangabad during weekends on Saturday.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Aurangabad district is 57,755 including 5,569 active cases till Friday, as per news agency ANI. The state administration has already imposed restrictions, lockdown and night curfew in several districts including Pune, Amravati, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Navi Mumbai, and Mumbai.
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Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had already warned of curbs in more areas due to spike in cases.
There has been surge in coronavirus cases in six states including Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. All these states cumulatively accounted for 85.6 per cent of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours, said an official release from the health ministry on Friday.
Meanwhile, restaurants, dining facilities, malls and cinema halls in Pune have been allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity till 10 pm on Saturday, as per a Times of India report.
The Health Ministry had expressed concerns over the Covid-19 situation in Maharashtra and said that the reduced testing, tracing and lack of Covid appropriate behaviours have led to the surge in active cases in the state.
After Pune, the state has witnessed maximum cases in Nagpur district. Swab samples of 74 positive patients from the district have been sent to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, for studying whether virus has undergone any mutation making it more contagious.
India has on Saturday recorded 24,882 fresh Coronavirus cases which is deeply concerning as it is the highest spike witnessed so far this year. This has taken the caseload to 1,13,33,728.
According to Union health ministry data, the death toll has also climbed to 1,58,446 with 140 new fatalities. The recovery rate is currently at 96.82 percent.