Guidelines are being prepared, says Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi.The state’s overall coronavirus tally nears 19,000-mark with record 1,432 new cases getting reported on Tuesday

New Delhi: In the wake of increasing number of coronavirus cases, total lockdown will be imposed in Bihar from 16 to 31 July, said Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday.Guidelines are being prepared, said Modi, ANI reported. Only emergency services will be allowed during this 15-day lockdown period and all shops, malls and religious places will be shut, said local news reports.
On Tuesday, the overall coronavirus tally in the state rose to 18,853 with record 1,432 new cases in the last 24 hours.
The state reported nine Covid-19 fatalities on Monday, raising the death toll to 134.
The tally of coronavirus has risen by over 1,000 for the third consecutive day. On Sunday, the state had witnessed the biggest single-day spike of 1,266 cases.
Out of the new 1,432 cases, the maximum number of 162 new coronavirus cases were from Patna district.
District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has ordered closure of at least three wholesale vegetable markets Mithapur, Kankarbagh and Rajendra Nagar.
In Begusarai, 114 more people have tested positive, followed by 107 in Nalanda, 61 in Bhagalpur, 54 in Muzaffarpur, 48 in Munger and 50 in Gaya.
So far, 12,364 people have recovered in the state from the coronavirus infection.
On Monday, Shailesh Kumar, the minister of the Rural Works Department, tested positive for Covid-19, the second member of the cabinet to have contracted the disease. He is placed in home quarantine.
His close aides said the minister did not suffer from any symptoms but had got himself tested as a precautionary measure after he recently toured his Jamalpur assembly segment in Munger district.
The minister’s wife has tested negative, though one of the domestic helps at his residence had been found positive.
Earlier, Backward and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Minister Vinod Kumar Singh and his wife were found infected with the virus.
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