Chandigarh:
The Haryana government has placed the state under a week-long complete lockdown starting tomorrow to curb the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the country. The announcement came from the state Home and Health Minister, Anil Vij.
The state reported 13,588 fresh infections yesterday, along with 125 deaths. This took the state’s overall case load to 5,01,566 and 4,341 fatalities. The overall count crossed the five lakh-mark on Saturday.
On Friday, the government had imposed a weekend lockdown in nine districts — Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panchkula, Sonipat, Rohtak, Karnal, Hisar, Sirsa, and Fatehabad — from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday.
These districts are the highest contributors to the state’s COVID-19 caseload with Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, and Jhajjar — sharing boundaries with Delhi — contributing 51 per cent of Saturday’s count.
Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the state, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier asked authorities to take strict action against anyone found indulging in black marketing and hoarding of medical oxygen cylinders and other medical devices or antiviral injections used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Senior opposition leaders had alleged that the situation in the state was worse than that of Delhi, with no beds or oxygen available.