Coronavirus: UP CM Yogi Adityanath Announces Complete Lockdown In 15 Districts To Contain The Spread

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (22 March) announced complete lockdown in 15 districts in the state, amid the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus in the country.

The districts that will go into a full lockdown mode from Monday include Agra, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Noida.

Other districts are Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lakhimpur, Ajamgarh, and Muradabad.

During the lockdown, only shops selling essentials such as medicines, milk, vegetables and groceries can remain open, while all other outlets will be shut.

The CM urged people to remain indoors unless it is very necessary to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease COVID-19.

UP became the first state to announce complete lockdown in districts which are worst hit due to the virus spread.

Earlier, it was reported that all state governments were going to issue orders allowing only essential services in about 75 districts with confirmed COVID-19 cases.

It was decided at a meeting on Sunday (22 March) morning with Chief Secretaries of all states by the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P K Misra.