The Srikakulam Municipal Corporation has reportedly decided to do away with imposing lockdown on Sundays from next week, keeping in line with the directives issued by the Centre for the Unlock 4.0.
With a spike in coronavirus cases, the district had been imposing lockdown on every Sunday for the last one month to prevent crowding at meat shops and fish markets. However, as per the fresh guidelines of the Centre, the States should not impose lockdowns outside containment zones.
The directive of the Union government would come into force from September 1, said an official of the Srikakulam Municipal Corporation.
In addition to lockdown on Sundays, the officials have been imposing partial lockdown on weekdays. All markets function only till 1 p.m., although there was no restriction on movement of people. This, the officials felt, would not be a violation of the new directives since it is being done voluntarily, with cooperation from business circles and Chamber of Commerce.
“Lockdowns are giving little results since surge in positive cases indicate the pathetic situation in Srikakulam. Many traders and workers of shops lost their lives. The officials should ban smoking and spitting in public places,” said Perla Mahesh, Co-Treasurer of Srikakulam Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, the positive cases’ number reached 22,381 in the district and around 2,000 cases were reported in the district headquarters itself. Out of them, as many as 6,141 are active cases.
Srikakulam Collector J. Nivas urged people to go for medical tests immediately if they developed symptoms. He said that 2,75,297 samples had been collected so far and tests were ramped up to 5,000 per day.