Assam declares total lockdown in 7 districts from Wednesday

News Express: Assam on Tuesday declared a total lockdown in seven of its districts — Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Morigaon — as they are showing a high positivity rate of Covid infections in the recent days. The lockdown will start from 5 am on Wednesday and remain in place until further notice. All restaurants, shops and offices will remain closed and there will be a complete ban on the movement of public and private transport.

Read Also: India may see start of third covid wave from next month

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched a social security scheme and a portal for Covid-affected families. After a deadly second wave in Delhi, families who have lost their breadwinners, children who have lost their parents to the virus will be provided monthly financial assistance, he highlighted.

India recorded 34,703 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, taking the country’s total infections to over 3.06 crore. This is the lowest spike of daily cases in 111 days. Out of these, active cases further declined to 4.64 lakh while recovery rate rose to 97.17%. Kerala topped the number of infections, with 8,037 new cases. The country reported 553 deaths on Monday, the lowest since April 5, taking the total toll to over 4.03 lakh.

The Centre on Tuesday said that over 37.7 crore covid-19 vaccines have been provided to states and union territories, and 23,80,000 doses are in the pipeline. The Centre also highlighted that states still house over 1.66 crore unutilized jabs.