COVID-19: Pune records 37 more cases; parts of city sealed

With 37 more cases of coronavirus recorded in Pune district, the count of COVID-19 patients has gone up to 141, while the city civic body has established containment zones in certain localities to halt the spread of the disease, officials said on Monday.

Given a surge in positive cases, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has sealed areas reporting a large number of infections and turned them into containment zones.

As per an order issued by the PMC, sealing of areas comes in to effect from Monday midnight and will be in force till further directives.

With 37 more cases of coronavirus reported from different parts of Pune district, the tally has shot up to 141, he said.

"Of these, 113 cases have been reported from areas falling under the PMC jurisdiction. In PCMC (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation), there are 20 cases, while rural parts account for eight infections so far," said District Collector Naval Kishore Ram.

Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said the civic body has decided to seal a portion of Kondhwa and turn it into a containment zone in a bid to halt the spread of the viral disease.

"Areas from Gultekdi to Marketyard in the city have also been be turned into containment zones," he said.

"Areas located on a stretch from Maharshinagar to RTO office have also been sealed as a majority of cases in the city have been reported from these areas," Gaikwad said.

Tight restrictions have been imposed in the sealed areas of Pune city.

"Till further orders, people living in the areas which have been sealed will not be able to go out and entry of outsiders has also been curtailed.

"However, people supplying essential services, transportation of goods and essential commodities to and from Marketyard and PMC and district administration staff working on preventive measures have been excluded," said the civic body order.

A decision on adding more areas to the containment zone list will be taken on the basis of registration of COVID-19 cases from these localities, it said.

"So people in other areas (currently not part of zones) are advised to buy at leastseven days of essential commodities without crowding (outside stops)," stated the order.