The ongoing 10-day lockdown in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and some rural parts of the district will not extend beyond July 23, said Collector Naval Kishore Ram on Monday. However, he added that there will be some restrictions in place in the city to curb the spread of coronavirus.
“There is unanimous decision to not extend the lockdown after July 23. However, in the coming days, we will be enforcing some measures to reduce crowding in the city. We are checking if some sort of measures can be undertaken on weekends to avoid crowding on the roads. We areseeing how can we control crowding during weddings and other ceremonies," said Ram,” PTI quoted Naval Kishore Ram as saying.
The Collector added that although the number of COVID-19 cases reported daily in Pune was increasing, the mortality rate has gone down. “The mortality rate of the district is about 2.6 per cent. For urban areas, it is 1.7 and for rural areas, it is 1.6 per cent. The CFR (case fatality rate) is slightly higher for cantonment and municipal councils. We are aiming that with the ongoing efforts and early detection, we will take it down to below 1 per cent,” said Ram.
This comes after the Federation of Trade Associations of Pune (FTAP) warned of protest if the lockdown is extended beyond July 23. Fatechand Ranka, the president of FTAP, said his federation has submitted a letter to the district administration, warning of a "strong protest". He added that the association has sought permission to allow shops to remain open between 10 am and 8 pm from Monday to Friday and their closure on Saturdays and Sundays to avoid crowding.
Meanwhile, Pune district reported 2,601 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, its highest single-day surge, taking the count to 54,013 on Monday, a health department official said.
He said the death toll rose to 1,387 with 44 more patients succumbing to the infection.
Also, 830 patients were discharged from hospitals in the western Maharashtra district during the same period, the official said.
"Of the 2,601 cases, 1,690 were reported from Pune Municipal Corporation limits (the city). In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the COVID-19 count increased by 657 patients," he said.
The number of positive cases in rural and Pune Cantonment Board areas increased by 254, he said.
(With PTI inputs)