Agra, Aug 27 (IANS): The district administration has extended imposition of Section 144 till October 21 and announced that the 55-hour long weekend lockdown would be strictly enforced from Friday night. The Agra Collectorate will remain closed for two days for sanitisation after a top official and a few others tested positive.

A staffer of the Agra Development Authority died in Aligarh on Wednesday, taking Agra's death toll to 107. The total number of patients is 2,634, active cases are 303, and the recovered are 2,224. The recovery rate is 84.43 percent. The number of samples collected is 1,05,977.

The continued surge in the numbers for the past ten days has alarmed the health department officials. In the past 24 hours, Agra reported 42 fresh cases, Mathura 75, Firozabad 33, Etah 23, Mainpuri 18 and Etah 8.

There was a fear that Covid-19 cases could surge in the city as people in general were not following guidelines. Crowding at government offices and markets by people without masks is proving to be a big worry.

"A significantly large number of people mistakenly think that the worst is over and the infection spread has been stalled. This laxity is going to prove costly," warned health activists.

Already there are rumours afloat that a new lockdown was becoming inevitable in UP, given the seriousness of the situation, though the state government officials have denied it. But the police has been asked to deal firmly with those who violated the standard guidelines.