India's Bihar state to impose 16-day lockdown

A 16-day lockdown will begin in the Eastern Indian state of Bihar starting on July 16, the Bihar government announced in an order on Tuesday. 

The lockdown was issued in view of the "alarming surge in Covid-19 positive cases in State of Bihar in last three weeks wherein positivity rate has also been considerably high," the order read, reports the CNN.

During the statewide lockdown, all government offices, commercial and private establishments, transport services, educational institutions, places of worship and parks will remain shut with the exception of certain essential services. 

All hospital and medical facilities will remain open, agricultural activities, construction activities, industrial establishments will continue, with the implementation of necessary precautions and social distancing norms, according to the order. 

Bihar has 17,959 cases of coronavirus including 160 deaths as of Tuesday, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, the northern state of Punjab issued a complete ban on public gatherings, a statement issued by the government of Punjab on Monday said. 

The eastern states of Jharkhand and West Bengal and the western state of Maharashtra had also issued lockdowns which are due to end on July 31 and Uttar Pradesh announced a weekend lockdown till the end of July. 

The lockdown in Bengaluru, the capital of South Indian state of Karnataka, is also set to start Tuesday at 8pm local after a sudden surge of coronavirus cases in that region.

India currently has more than 900,000 total cases of coronavirus including 23,727 deaths and 571,460 recoveries according to the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has the third highest number of total cases in the world, behind US and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University data.