Cases in India shot up as the country imposed a complete lockdown, barring essential services, on 75 districts across 22 states and union territories. On Sunday, Gujarat, Bihar, and Maharashtra reported a death each taking the toll to seven due to COVID-19. Maharashtra continues to have the highest number of cases.
The health ministry has stated that in order to control the situation, a complete lockdown has been announced in 19 states and union territories. Some parts of six states and union territories have been kept under lockdown.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said, "States/UTs under complete or partial lockdown are Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh." Kerala, Haryana, Tamil Nadu will also close down everything till March 31.
India under lockdown
The Government in Assam stated that everything will be shut down in the state from 6 pm on March 24 to March 31. Only grocery shops, petrol pumps, and chemist shops will remain open providing access to basic amenities to citizens.
Operations of domestic scheduled commercial airlines shall cease with effect from midnight on March 24. Aviation ministry, however, stated that the restrictions shall not apply to cargo flights.
Delhi has stated that public transport will stop with only DTDC buses operating at not more than 25% capacity to cater to personnel engaged in essential services.
All domestic flights into Delhi are banned from March 24 till March 31.
All public places including malls, swimming pools, gyms, cinema halls, schools and offices, factories, religious places are closed. Interstate buses and metro services will be suspended. All factories to remain close.
However, medical services and emergency services will continue to function normally in Delhi.
Restaurants can only open up for take aways and delivery purposes. Ration shops and medical stores shall remain open. Petrol pumps shall remain open and bank ATMs will be operational.
With a death case reported from West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged the Prime Minister to stop all domestic flights coming into the state.
