COVID-19: Uttar Pradesh orders complete shutdown in 15 districts till Apr 13

The shutdown will be effective from 12 am tonight.

The 15 districts are Lucknow, Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautambudh Nagar (Noida), Kanpur, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahar, Firozabad, Maharajganj, Sitapur, Saharanpur and Basti.

All food items will be delivered to home till Apr 13, reports said.

326 people including 21 cured and three deceased have so far been infected with COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met the leaders of various political parties amid the appeals by several states to the Centre to extend the 21-day nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of Novel Coronavirus.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said he was in favour of the extension of the lockdown to save the lives.

"We can recover from the economic problem. But, we cannot get back lost lives," Rao told media.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "We can bear the lockdown. We can also revive economy but we cannot get back the lost lives."

Rajasthan, Punjab are also among the states which have favoured the extension of the shut down that has impacted hard on daily wagers and migrant workers.

However, the Centre had earlier ruled out any possibility of the extension of lockdown.

Modi had asked the Chief Ministers to formulate a strategy for an exit from the lockdown in phases ensuring staggered movement of people post Apr 14 midnight.

As per the government update, 5,194 people including 402 cured and 149 cured have been infected with COVID-19 across the states with Maharashtra recording the most (1018) followed by Tamil Nadu (690).