The Bihar government on Wednesday announced a strict lockdown in Patna district from July 10 to July 16 due to an alarming surge in coronavirus cases, PTI reports.

Government offices, public corporations, all private and commercial establishments will remain closed. However, essential services like ration, dairy, vegetable and meat shops, banks, ATMs and petrol outlets will be open.

As many as 749 people tested positive for the coronavirus in a single day, according to the state government’s latest update on Wednesday evening. This took the state’s overall count to 13,274. With two deaths – one each from the state’s Araria and Bhagalpur districts – in 24 hours, the toll rose to 100. As many as 235 of the cases reported on Wednesday were from Patna, taking the district’s tally to 1,351 infection. The toll in the district is 12.

Kumar Ravi, the collector of Patna district and the chairman of its disaster management authority, issued the lockdown orders under the Bihar Epidemic Disease Covid-19 Regulation, 2020. “All places of worship shall be closed for public,” the notice for the lockdown said, adding that “no religious congregations will be permitted”.

The state has so far tested 2.75 lakh samples. Of this, 6,277 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

Nawada, West Champaran, East Champaran and Bhagalpur districts will also be under varying degrees of lockdown.

In Bhagalpur, which has 693 cases and six deaths, there will be a lockdown from Thursday till July 13. In Nawada, the lockdown will be in force from July 10 to July 12. In West Champaran, there will be a week-long lockdown from Thursday, while in East Champaran, it will be imposed from July 10 to July 14.

India, which is currently the third worst-affected country in the world, has reported 7,42,417 infections and 20,642 deaths so far.