MP announces night curfew amid rising Covid cases, five districts to go under temporary lockdowns

Apart from a night curfew in the urban centres, the government also ordered an eight-day complete lockdown in Chhindwara district, across its urban and rural areas. The lockdown will come into effect at 8 pm on April 8 and will continue till 6 am on April 16.

Districts such as Betul, Ratlam, Khargone and Katni will also remain under complete lockdown from 6 pm on April 9 to 6 am on April 17. The urban areas of Shajapur district will be under a three-day lockdown from 8 pm on April 7 to 6 am on April 10.

Also, government offices will be functional for five days a week and everything would remain shut over the weekends. The order for government establishments will remain in effect until July 31.

The government has also empowered collectors to enforce a complete lockdown of seven to 10 days in areas that have turned hotspots or have been termed as containment zones.

With the state experiencing a fresh spurt in cases, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday assured that there is no shortage of oxygen. Addressing media persons, Chouhan said, “We have spoken to the Gujarat government as well as Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and have been assured that we’ll be getting adequate oxygen from Bhilai. The necessary arrangement has been made and efforts are on to ensure regular supply.”

Amidst a shortage of Remdesivir injections in Indore, the government had earlier announced that it would provide the medicine for free to the poor and needy. The district administration in Indore said that against a daily requirement of 7,000 vitals, they were getting around 3,000 which was less than half of its requirement. Indore had recorded a total of 866 positive cases on Wednesday.

A day after announcing that his government will provide free vials of Remdesivir to people representing economically weaker sections, the CM assured that his government is in the process of procuring the medicine. “We will ensure that there is no shortage of medicines where they are needed,” the CM said.

On Wednesday, a video of people thronging drug stores to procure Remdesivir had gone viral on social media.