In view of an alarming surge in cases across Pune district, all schools, colleges and private coaching classes will remain shut till February 28, said Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao on Sunday.
Following a review meeting of the pandemic situation chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar in which senior Pune administration and divisional authorities were present, Mr. Pawar directed officials to ensure that no ‘non-essential’ activities were to be permitted on roads between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Essential services like medicines, hospitals, delivery of vegetables, milk, newspapers will continue unhindered.
“While no lockdown is being contemplated as yet, we will be strictly enforcing the rules until the cases come down. People must avoid large crowds in order to break the chain. This dropping of one’s guard is unacceptable,” said Mr. Pawar.
He further said that no more than 200 people would henceforth be permitted at wedding functions and political programmes for which 'no objection' certificates have to be obtained from the Pune police.
Likewise, in a bid to dissuade youngsters from roaming the streets late in the night, hotels and eateries will not be allowed to remain open beyond 11 p.m. as against their previous closing deadline of 1 a.m.
Mr. Pawar also said that additional manpower and infrastructure would be provided to the Sassoon General Hospital in the next two-four days in order to cope better with any potential medical situation.
Announcing the new restrictive measures, Mr. Rao said that virus 'hotspots' had been identified in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations and that micro-containment zones would accordingly be formed to rein in the spread of the contagion.
The emerging hotbeds in Pune city are Kothrud, Bibwewadi and Sinhagad Road among others.
“The interesting part is that these hotspots are not new. Last year, the pandemic had first erupted in the Old City ‘Peth’ area and then spread to the outer periphery. We will also be activating covid care centers (CCCs) in rural areas and check intermingling from rural to urban pockets,” said the Divisional Commissioner.
Mr. Rao observed that Pune's case positivity rate had currently shot up to 10% from a low of 4.5% a fortnight ago. The district has been reporting an average 750-800 cases since the past week.
“While the infection rate had been on the decline in the last three months, there are signs that the situation is now changing again. We had detailed discussions with the Deputy Chief Minister on preparations to cope with this case surge. Pune currently ranks 12th in the State in terms of case positivity. However, we have decided it is time to activate the standard operating procedures (SOPs) before the situation gets any worse,” he said.
“Our immediate objectives are to identify and increase contact tracing and sample testing in the new hotspots in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad as well as the rural taluks. We also plan to increase the inoculation of frontline workers and increase awareness drives,” said Mr. Rao.
While the rise in Pune’s case positivity rate is not as steep as that of districts in the Vidarbha region, Mr. Rao pointed to similar trends last year.
“Last year, from March till the beginning of June, the case positivity ratio was relatively low, at 2-3%. Then, in June, it shot to 10% and suddenly doubled to 20% in August. As a result, this put a lot of strain on the medical infrastructure while causing people to panic. To avoid all this, we have taken these measures as advance preparation,” he explained, adding that as of now, there were no restrictions on inter-district travel.
