Pune: Pune and the northern limits of Pimpri Chinchwad has seen a sudden spike of cases, forcing the district authorities to enforce strict restrictions against the spread of COVID-19. As a result, a night-time curfew from 11 PM to 6 AM was imposed on Sunday, along with fresh restrictions on large gatherings and operations of restaurants and bars. Moreover, schools, colleges, and other educational institutions in the district have been shut till February 28.
Restrictions were announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today morning. Notably, the industrial city of Pimpri-Chinchwad has also seen an upsurge in the active cases over the past week. The decision to bring back some restrictions was taken in a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is also the guardian minister of Pune, on Sunday, he said.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had earlier held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss measures to take in order to control the spread of coronavirus in the district.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad district witnessed two-times the number of cases seen earlier this month – from 69 positive COVID-19 cases on February 1 to over 140 cases this week. On Saturday, the Pune division reported 998 new cases of coronavirus and nine deaths due to the viral infection.
The COVID-19 tally in the division stood at 5,14,319 and the death toll at 11,698, as per official figures. Rao said for the last three months, the situation in the district was under control. But, now in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases, some decisions have been taken.
All of Maharashtra has been witnessing an increase in COVID-19 cases for the past few days.
Corona Task Force member Dr. Shashank Joshi said one of the reasons behind rising coronavirus cases in Maharashtra is the resumption of local train services for the general public. Reports claimed that Covid-19 restrictions like social distancing and mask-wearing have gone for a toss since the resumption of local train services.