COVID-19: Ballia lockdown extended to another area, CMO removed

A lockdown will be imposed in the Rasra municipality board area from Saturday, a week after similar restrictions already in place in Ballia city were extended, officials said on Friday. Ballia Chief Medical Officer Dr P K Misra and District Women's Hospital Superintendent Dr Madhuri Singh have been removed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over complaints of laxity on their part, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Anand Swarup Shukla said in a tweet in Hindi on Thursday night.

The chief medical officer of Ballia and the superintendent of the women's hospital here have been removed following a spurt in COVID-19 cases that prompted the administration to impose a complete lockdown in parts of the district. A lockdown will be imposed in the Rasra municipality board area from Saturday, a week after similar restrictions already in place in Ballia city were extended, officials said on Friday.

Ballia Chief Medical Officer Dr P K Misra and District Women's Hospital Superintendent Dr Madhuri Singh have been removed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over complaints of laxity on their part, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Anand Swarup Shukla said in a tweet in Hindi on Thursday night. The lockdown in Rasra will be in place from July 18 to 25. The decision was taken following detection of COVID cases in around six wards in the past few days, District Magistrate Hari Pratap Shahi said on Friday.

Earlier, the DM had announced a complete lockdown in Ballia city and its surrounding areas till July 21. The lockdown was imposed on July 3 and was initially intended to be in place till July 10 but was later extended. The DM said the lockdown will be imposed strictly.

There will be restriction on the movement of people, except for those involved in essential services like health and law and order, he said..