Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday decided to restrict entry to common people in PMC headquarters and 15 ward offices around the civic areas.

Vikram Kumar, PMC Commissioner in his order issued on Tuesday said, “The order has been declared as a preventive measure. It aims at plummeting crowd under one roof. The move comes after city reported a surge in the spread of COVID-19 infection.” Only people having very important work can visit, an order issued on Tuesday stated further. The order is effective from Wednesday. However, the order is not applicable for elected members and civic staff.

Those who need to visit these offices for meetings or other scheduled programmes need to carry letter for the same. The head of the departments or officers conducting these meetings should ensure that they declare invitation letters to guests.

The order appealed also appealed Punekars to raise their issues or works relating to civic administration via emails. The zonal offices and ward offices should also send information on subjects of urgent attention to PMC headquarters through mails.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 tally in Pune district went up to 6,206 on Tuesday to reach the total caseload to 5,25,806.

Of the new cases, 3,226 were reported in Pune city (Pune Municipal Corporation) followed by 1,837 in Pimpri Chinchwad (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) while the remaining were found in rural and cantonment areas. The caseload in Pune Municipal Corporation area stood at 2,64,885, while it is 1,37,850 in Pimpri Chinchwad followed by 1,23,071 in rural and cantonment areas.

On the grim mark, death total also increased by 45 while the recovery count by 3,268, according to the health department. The district has so far witnessed 9,918 deaths amid the novel virus.