UP to seal hotspots in 15 most COVID-hit districts till April 15 as cases soar

The Uttar Pradesh government has sealed hotspots in 15 districts including Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Lucknow, Agra, Shamli, Saharanpur which have a viral load of COVID-19 till April 15. The decision was taken after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath chaired a meeting with 'Team 11' on Wednesday morning to take stock of the situation.

State Chief Secretary RK Tiwari said the action is being taken to prevent community transmission of the virus as numbers there are high. Amid the lockdown, only home delivery of essential goods and medical teams will be allowed. No person will be allowed to enter or exit these sealed hotspots.

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The 15 districts:

"There are 343 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus. Of these, most cases have come from the districts — Agra, Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Shamli, Saharanpur, Gautam Budh Nagar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Basti, Bareilly, Sitapur, Meerut, Bulandshahar and Maharajganj. The lockdown will be implemented very strictly in the hotspots of these areas," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.

The CM has asked state disaster management and police officials to prepare an action plan accordingly and submit it by 5 pm, the official further said. He said such measures imposed elsewhere have yielded results and have contained the outbreak. 

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Centre mulls lockdown extension

Earlier in the day, the PM held an all-party meeting via video conference to discuss the fight against the novel coronavirus. As per sources, the Centre will take the final decision on the extension of the nationwide lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with all the Chief Ministers on April 11. India has recorded 149 COVID-19 deaths, active cases soar to 4643. 402 have been discharged till date.

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