The Wardha district administration in Maharashtra on Thursday imposed a 60-hour lockdown from Saturday in view of the increase in coronavirus cases, the Hindustan Times reported. The district has reported at least 200 cases every day for the past two weeks.

In an order, District Collector Prerna Deshabhratar said that the lockdown will remain in force from 8 pm on Saturday till 8 am on March 30. “All essential shops, medical stores and the MIDC [Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation] industrial area will remain open during the lockdown,” the order said. The district administration will also impose a fine of Rs 2,000 if anyone violates the lockdown rules.

Wardha recorded 251 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, pushing the tally in the district to 17,487, reported The Times of India. With four deaths, the toll reached 420. There are 1,716 active cases in the district.

Maharashtra issues new guidelines amid surge in cases

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has issued new guidelines to contain the highest single-day tally of new infections since the coronavirus outbreak, reported NDTV. These new rules are meant to reinforce the medical infrastructure and also contains precautionary measures.

Maharashtra Principal Health Secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas issued the guidelines on Tuesday. All district collectors, municipal commissioners and divisional commissioners have been asked to follow them.

The authorities have been told to ensure that all oxygen tanks and cylinders remain full and that Covid-19 patients in home isolation are monitored more closely. The guidelines also said that bed allocation in dedicated Covid-19 healthcare centres and dedicated Covid-19 hospitals need to be based only on the clinical condition of the patient.

The patients who have recovered and are asymptomatic, with no fever or cough for the past three days and are maintaining 95% oxygen saturation at room air, must be shifted to Covid-19 care centres.

The care centre have been told to conduct six-minute walk tests twice a day and four-hourly measurement of temperature and oxygen saturation so that the condition of the patient, if it deteriorates, is picked up early. The six-minute walk test is a minimal exercise that notes the distance covered by a person in the time span and is then used as the outcome to compare changes in performance capacity.

Maharashtra is the worst-affected state by the pandemic in India. On Thursday, the state registered 35,952 new coronavirus cases – its highest one-day count since the beginning of the pandemic. With 111 deaths, the toll went up to 53,795.