The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to completely seal COVID-19 hotspots within 15 districts till the end of the lockdown on April 14. The announcement, first made orally by a senior official, triggered panic buying among anxious public who stepped out to the markets in big numbers as confusion prevailed over which areas would come under the purview of the total lockdown. Several hours after the government decision, officials were yet to declare the names of the hotspots in many districts.
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Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in U.P. reached 361, with 195 cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat, said the U.P. Directorate of Health Services. Positive cases have been so far reported in 38 out of the 75 districts.
The government listed 100 such hotspots spread across 15 districts, including Lucknow, Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra, Varanasi and Meerut. The district-wise hotspots to be sealed stood as — Agra (22 hotspots), Ghaziabad (13), Noida (12), Kanpur (12), Shamli (3), Meerut (7) including some rural areas, Varanasi (4), Bareilly (1), Bulandshahr (3), Basti (3), Firozabad (3), Saharanpur (4), Maharajganj (4), Lucknow (12) including 8 major ones, and Sitapur (1).
The “affected areas” in these 15 districts, which have reported six or more positive cases, should be “completely sealed” to make the lockdown secure, the State’s top official Rajendra Kumar Tiwari said in instructions to Dis