Coronavirus: Punjab to enforce lockdown till March 31

In a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh on Sunday announced to enforce lockdown of all non-essential services and businesses with immediate effect till March 31. Only essential services will be allowed to function in the state. Punjab is the second state to enforce complete lockdown after Rajasthan.

The essential services like the police, health, power, emergency transport, the supply of milk, food items, medicines, etc will function as per the orders.

So, far Punjab has reported 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19. While one among the infected people lost his life.

Earlier this week, a 62-year-old Baldev Singh from Punjab's Nawashahr died due to coronavirus. Later, six members of his family also tested positive. Baldev's three sons, two daughters-in-law and a granddaughter returned positive test results.

The state government had earlier banned public transport till March 21 and reduced the limit for permissible public gatherings to 20 people, down from 50. Extending the ban, the government has now announced to enforce complete lockdown till March 31.

Meanwhile, cities like Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur are also under lockdown to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

So far, a total of 324 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in India with five fatalities.

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