BHOPAL: Alarmed over the sudden rise in COVID-19 cases, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has announced total lockdowns across the state on Sundays. The decision was taken at the COVID-19 situation review meeting chaired by the CM in Bhopal on Wednesday.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the state’s health and home minister Narottam Mishra said that as per the advisory finalized after the review meeting, it has been decided to go for total lockdown across the state on Sundays.
Capital Bhopal has already been observing total lockdowns on weekends. "The police is being empowered to not only give masks to those not wearing face mask or covers, but also charge the price of the mask/face cover from those being provided with mask/face covers," said Mishra.
Further, it has been decided that if large number of cases are reported from any residential colony or lane, then curfew will be imposed in the concerned colony or lane and not the entire town. Meanwhile, the sudden spike in COVID-19 positive cases continue to gather momentum with every passing day.
According to the state health bulletin released on Wednesday, as many as 409 cases were reported from across the state over the last 24 hours, with the Gwalior-Chambal region continuing to be the worst hit region.
Four districts of the Gwalior-Chambal region, including Morena (115 cases), Gwalior (68 cases), Shivpuri (15) and Bhind (eight cases) contributed to 206 out of the total 409 cases reported during the last 24 hours. The state capital reported 70 positive cases over the past 24 hours, followed by Indore with 44 cases. The total positive cases reported so far in the state stood at 16,036 on Wednesday.
Till date, a total of 3420 active patients are hospitalized across the state, while 11,987 have recovered from the deadly viral infection, 219 of them conquering the infection in the last 24 hours. Also, with seven more deaths being reported in the state over the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 death count in the state rose to 629 on Wednesday.