Traffic Crawls As Ghaziabad-Delhi Border Shuts Over Coronavirus

A huge traffic jam snaked across the main highway between Delhi and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh for several hours this morning after the border between the two states was sealed. The situation did not improve as the day progressed. "Traffic Alert: Traffic movement is slow in the carriageway from Ghazipur to Ghaziabad due to tight checking of commuters at Border by UP Police," the Delhi Police tweeted late this afternoon.

The direction to block any movement across the border was issued by Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey yesterday after six people who came from Delhi tested positive for coronavirus. The order was issued under the National Disaster Act 2005.

Emergency-use vehicles and those providing essential surfaces were being allowed to proceed.  A man on a scooter told NDTV that he wanted to return home after a visit to a hospital in Delhi with his wife but was not being allowed to proceed by the police.

The traffic stacked up as no movement was allowed on either side of the border. Only vehicles involved in essential services are being allowed to pass.

As of yesterday, the Centre has allowed states to relax restrictions in areas that are not reporting a high incidence of coronavirus cases.  But Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that this is not possible for the capital, which is reporting the second-highest number of cases in the country.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain today said 78 more COVID-19 cases have been reported from the national capital, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the city to 2,081,.

The country recorded the biggest jump in the number of deaths today, with 47 patients dying in the last 24 hours. The number of coronavirus cases in the country has climbed to 18,601, which includes 590 deaths,

Data from the Union Health Ministry showed 1,336 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.