India Tightens Strict Lockdown Measures in Virus Risk Zones
India’s government has been in talks with independent health experts and state governments on when and how to remove lockdown.
(Bloomberg) -- India has further tightened lockdown measures and enhanced surveillance at hundreds of areas designated as virus hotspots, with officials saying the epidemic is now concentrated in 78 districts across the nation.
The lockdown had reduced virus transmission, with Indian Council of Medical Research estimating the country may have had up to 820,000 cases by April 15 without the country-wide closures, a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup, told reporters Thursday evening. India has 6,237 confirmed cases, according to data compiled by the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, although infectious diseases experts say the true rate of infection is likely much higher given the South Asian nation has tested just 127,919 samples from its 1.3 billion citizens.
Authorities have sealed settlements, lanes and apartment complexes in the financial capital of Mumbai, as well as in Delhi and the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, allowing in only medical services, surveillance workers and those delivering food and other essential items.
The South Asian nation is in the third week of the world’s largest nationwide lockdown which began on March 25. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the epidemic as a “social emergency” -- infections have been surging, with about 773 people diagnosed with the virus on a single day on Wednesday.
Authorities sealed about 100 hot spots in the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, including 22 in Noida, a city close to the capital New Delhi, till the scheduled end of the lockdown on April 14.
In the Western state of Maharashtra -- the most affected province in the country with 1,135 confirmed cases -- more than 3,600 squads are working in close to 1,000 containment zones to identify symptomatic patients and help with contact tracing. Some 1.2 million people have been placed under surveillance, said Anup Kumar Yadav, a senior official in the state’s health department.
India’s government has been in talks with independent health experts and state governments on when and how to remove lockdown. Modi told political leaders on Wednesday that state and district administrations as well as experts have suggested the lock down be extended, according to a government statement.
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