Aurangabad, Jul 17 (PTI) The Aurangabad Municipal corporation on Friday said shopkeepers dealing in meat, groceries, vegetables and milk will have test negative for novel coronavirus before they are allowed to open their establishments post lockdown that ends at midnight on July 18.

Civic chief Astik Kumar Pandey said antigen tests will be conducted, and those opening shops after the lockdown without testing negative for coronavirus will have to pay fines and face legal action.

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"We have deployed 15 teams comprising 400 civic staff to carry out tests," he added.

As on Friday morning, Aurangabad had 9,832 COVID-19 cases.

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A total of 2,626 antigen tests were conducted at entry points to the city till late Friday evening, and 131 people were detected with the infection, officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)