Lockdown in 75 Districts:The central government on Sunday (22/003/2020) decided to restrict transport services-railways, metro and inter-state bus–across the country amid lockdown measures to contain the rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Globally, 308,463 infections have been reported while the death toll rose to 13,069 till Sunday.
India has reported 341 cases so far, with five deaths.
“In the view of the need to contain the spread of COVID-19, it was agreed that there is urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport, including inter-state transport till March 31, 2020,” as per the government statement.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced a complete shut down of the national capital till March 31 to stem the virus spread. India will also suspend trains, transport between states and Metro in its biggest cities during the same period.
The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has suspended its metro and bus services till March 31.
The announcement comes amid the strictly-followed Janta curfew on Sunday. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked the nation to follow self-curfew on Sunday to practice social distancing.
Seventy-five districts that have reported confirmed coronavirus cases or deaths will run only essential public services till that date, said a government press release.
The government also said on Sunday that along with the metro services, all train services, including suburban train services have also been suspended till March 31. However, goods trains would operate during the period. “Inter-State passenger transport also to be suspended till 31st March 2020,” the government statement said.
“The Delhi Metro system will, however, continue to be powered for essential internal operational maintenance activities during this duration and security of the system will continue to be taken care of by CISF,” DMRC said in a statement.
In a message to all managing directors of metro services across the country, housing secretary D S Mishra said the move was a continuation of the closing down of metro services on 22 March – the day of Janata Curfew. “This will help in breaking the chain of further infection of COVID-19,” he said.
The Centre has also asked state governments to issue appropriate orders to only allow essential services in the 75 districts (where the lockdown is imposed) where cases and casualties have been reported so far. “The state governments may expand the list depending on their assessment of the situation,” stated the notice.
Two people have died due to COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the death toll to six. A 63-year-old patient from Mumbai and a 38-year-old man from Patna, Bihar succumbed to the virus.
Here is a list of cities that has been a lockdown State-wise.
1. Andhra Pradesh – Prakasam, Vijaywada, Vizag
2. Chandigarh- Chandigarh
3. Chhattisgarh- Raipur
4. Delhi- Central East, Delhi North, Delhi North, West Delhi, North, East Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi
5. Gujarat- Kutch, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad
6. Haryana- Faridabad, Sonipat, Panchkula, Panipat, Gurugram
7. Himachal Pradesh- Kangra
8. UT of Jammu and Kashmir- Srinagar, Jammu
9. Karnataka- Bangalore, Chikkaballapura, Mysore, Kodagu, Kalaburagi
10. Kerala- Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kannur, Kasargod, Kottayam, Mallapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur
11. UT of Ladakh- Kargil, Leh
12. Madhya Pradesh- Jabalpur,
13. Maharashtra- Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Mumbai Sub-Urb, Pune, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane, Yavatmal
14. Odisha- Khurda
15. Puducherry- Mahe
16. Punjab- Hoshiarpur, SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar
17. Rajasthan- Bhilwara, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur
18. Tamil Nadu- Chennai, Erode, Kanchipuram,
19. Telangana- Bhadradri, Kothagudem, Hyderabad, Medchai, Ranga, Reddy, Sanga Reddy
20. Uttar Pradesh- Agra, GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Lakhimpur, Kheri, Lucknow
21. Uttarakhand- Dehradun
22. West Bengal- Kolkata, North 24 Parganas.
