Racing to contain further spread of the novel coronavirus as its second wave has unleashed a scary scenario in city and rural areas of the district, local authorities have gone for a lockdown till month end. All activities, excluding those in essential categories plus industrial production, would remain closed till April 30, states the notification that toes the line adopted by State Government. Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B and District Collector Ravindra Thakare issued separate local orders putting seal on the news about complete lockdown with effect from Monday night. Given the pressure on health machinery and no respite on positive cases of COVID-19, State authorities have decided to hit the pause button after trying to salvage the situation for last fortnight. The current surge of COVID-19 now threatens the social fabric of rural and semi urban centres where health machinery is already fragmented compared to more urbane areas.

 

 

 

Even in some cities the viral load is rapidly increasing indicating that drastic measures are needed before it explodes and situation becomes unmanageable, said local officials. The city and district officials together decided to enforce strictest curbs in a bid to break the transmission chain. And as such for next 25 days all commercial establishment, private offices would remain closed in city and district. The State, however, has tried to calibrate its actions to ensure that people out on the streets for genuine reasons are not troubled. Hence there is no ban on movement of private vehicles while transportation of goods is permissible as do the carrying of construction materials during the lockdown period. As to curbs as per notification of Municipal Commissioner and District Collector, Section 144 is imposed that disallows any gathering of five and more persons at a place at a time from 7 am 8 pm.

 

There will be weekend lockdown i.e on Saturday, Sunday and till Monday morning anyone out on street would need plausible reason to explain the movement. Without any valid reasons anyone found roaming unnecessarily would be dealt as per provision of the Disaster Management Act. In the essential category all grocery strores, vegetable shops, dairies, bakeries, confectioneries, food shops would remain open on all days. Similarly, public transport including trams, taxis, autos and public buses would continue to operate. All public services and pre-monsoon activities can be carried out without any restriction. e-Commerce is also allowed to delivery all types of goods and other services designated as essential service by local Disaster Management Authority can also continue without any curbs. Shops/Markets/Malls: There was raging confusion about functioning of shops, especially in Nagpur since just now they were finding some footing after being allowed to carry out normal activities.

 

This was so as during mid-March the city and district imposed strictest curbs under grab of breaking the transmission chain but without any plausible results. So traders were citing statement of Dr Nitin Raut, Guardian Minister, that all local curbs imposed on city markets, shops have been lifted. This brought cheers to local trading community who have been struggling with often mini lockdowns. The notification by Municipal Commissioner made it clear that all shops, barring those in essential category, would remain closed till end of April, thus putting full stop to any speculation about any concessions. The communication from NMC and Collectorate has advised owners of non-essential and essential shops to get their staff vaccinated at the earliest.

 

Other measures like putting transparent screen to maintain distance with customers, maintaining social distance, promoting electronic payment etc. should be adopted by shopkeepers. Private offices: About private offices it is notified that Co-operative, PSU and private banks would remain open. Similarly, there is no restrictions on telecom service providers, insurance and mediclaim companies, pharmaceutical companies, offices overseeing management and production. For Government offices there would be cap of 50 per cent attendance, excluding those engaged in COVID-19 management. No visitors are allowed at Government offices and Government-run companies and they are told to start e-visitors system at the earliest. However, HoD can issue passes in case of exceptional circumstances to visitor subject to person presenting RT-PCR negative report of not more that 48 hours prior to visit. Private Transport: People can move freely in private vehicles and buses from 7 am to 8 pm on weekdays. However, on weekend, till Monday morning, private vehicles allowed on roads only for emergency or essential services. Restaurants, Bars, Hotels: The dine in is totally banned during the lockdown, even home delivery timings also are restricted till 8 pm on weekdays.

 

On weekend too take-aways, parcel and on-line delivery can be carried out unrestricted till 8 pm, the timing for closure of kitchens. All bars, restaurants will remain closed, except for those inside the campus and are integral part of hotels. No guests will be allowed in hotels and the restrictions as applicable for stand alone shops and restaurants would be enforceable. Marriages: A major concession provided by State Government is regards to marriage, summer is a peak time for tying knots. As per notification, 50 persons with each having RT-PCR negative reports would only be allowed at the marriage functions. All the staff at any location serving guests have to be vaccinated or till then carry RT-PCR negative certificate that would be valid for 15 days. Any violation would led to imposition of fine of Rs 1,000 on the offender and Rs 10,000 on the establishment. At funerals too there would cap of only 20 persons to ensure that no large gatherings takes place. 

 

 

 

Liquor shops, bars to remain closed In the lockdown notification, Ravindra Thakare, District Collector and Magistrate, has notified that all liquor shops, bars in city and rural areas will remain closed till further orders. Maharashtra Government in its April 4, 2021, notification has not issue any clarification about liquor trade and hence toeing the same line, Thakare too stated that no sale of spirits in any form will be allowed. All wholesale and retail liquor trade of country and IMFL would remain suspended and any violation would entail swift action.

 

However, there is no restriction on production and as such liquor factories can continue to work as per notified rules ensuring following all regulations in backdrop of surging viral load of novel coronavirus. At factories the work should be thermal screened before entering the production area and social distancing should be followed. In light of no clear instruction about home delivery or allowing parcel, tipplers lined-up at wine shops to stock for the lockdown period. Till evening there was not much activity but after sunset as closure time neared, people made a beeline at liquor stores as panic set in about impending closure till month end.

 

 

 

Nagpur district on third consecutive day on Monday witnessed improvement in COVID-19 recovery rate. Today, the district’s recovery rate improved to 81.02%. In fact, the number of persons recovered are more than those testing positive for novel coronavirus. With improvement in recovery rate, the active cases have reduced. On Monday, 3,703 persons became corona-free taking the cumulative recovery to 1,98,611. With good recovery the number of active cases has witnessed fall as today’s count stood at 41,130. The district registered 3,519 new COVID-19 cases (Five persons tested positive for the coronavirus are from outside the Nagpur district). Nagpur rural has reported 1,109 new COVID-19 cases while 2,405 came positive for this virus in city.

 

The cumulative positive cases reached 2,45,125 of which 1,057 persons are the residents of places from outside Nagpur district. As per the chart sent by the District administration, 57 persons died of coronavirus in the district. Nagpur rural has reported 19 deaths while 33 persons became victims to this dreaded virus in city. Of the 57 victims, 5 were the residents of places outside Nagpur district. With these the cumulative deaths reached 5,384 (875 persons who died in Nagpur were the residents of outside Nagpur district). Sunday had witnessed quite a good number of testing. But on Monday, the number of testing registered a fall to 11,858. Nagpur rural has reported 2,339 testing while city registered 9,619 testing taking the cumulative testing count to 17,04,831. The samples examined through RTPCR were 9,921 while 1,937 were through Rapid Antigen Test.

 

Apart from the samples of Nagpur district, the people from Nagpur and out of city approached various laboratories in Nagpur to get themselves examined. The samples came for examination at various laboratories in Nagpur include virology laboratory of Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) (2,112), Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) (1,923), molecular diagnostic laboratory of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) (1,640), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) (304), Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) (813) private laboratories (3,129), Antigen (1,937).