Shops related to only essential items and essential services such as dairy, medical stores and hospital will continue to be operational amid the lockdown. Emergency services have been excluded from the lockdown.
Confirming the development, Pune Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said that "Complete lockdown has been announced for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and some parts of Rural Pune from 13th July to 23rd July. Only shops related to essential services like dairy and medical stores and and hospitals will remain open."
Meanwhile, Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said the decision was taken to break the chain of viral spread. Briefing further on the decision, Kishore Ram said that the authorities have identified at least 22 villages where the lockdown will be imposed.
"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.
ALSO READ | India Has Still Not Reached Community Transmission Stage Says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
The district reported a record spike of 1,803 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday that pushed the tally to 34,399. The city is highly struggling with the recovery rate as only 15,000 of the COVID-19 infected patients have recovered in all this while, keeping the rate of the recovery in Pune well below 50 per cent. Till date, the death toll due to the novel Coronavirus in Pune stands at 978.
On the whole, Maharashtra is still the worst-hit COVID-19 state in India with over 2.3 lakh cases of Coronavirus till date while the death toll stands close to 10,000.