Tirupati goes into partial lockdown

Tirupati: Partial lockdown has been imposed in Tirupati city to contain further surge of Covid-19. As the city had recorded about 10,000 cases since March and now over 1900 cases being reported a day, the business associations in the city have decided to close all commercial establishments by 1 pm with immediate effect.

As a result, all streets including the commercial areas Nethaji Road, G Car street, Gandhi Road, Chinna Bazaar, Theerthakatta street and the areas in and around railway station, RTC central bus station where pilgrim movement is normally heavy wore a deserted look.

Roadside eateries and vendors closed their business by 1 pm.

Private transport of autos mostly remained off the road due to the closure of shops and businesses, vehicular movement considerably came down.

However, Gangamma temple in the city witnessed a rush of women who visited the shrine on Tuesday and offered prayers to the Goddess. Meanwhile, Mayor Dr R Sirisha inspected the primary health centre and a school at Bairagipatteda. She spoke to the doctors on the progress of vaccination at the health centre. When she found some vendors without masks, she directed the ward health secretary to impose a fine of Rs 100 each on the three vendors. Later in her inspection in the high school, she urged the teachers to ensure that safety norms were strictly observed by the students and wanted them to prepare the students for the SSC examination.