The total number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh reached 5,236 even as the ‘lockdown 4.0’ commenced in the state on Monday. With four new deaths reported during past 24 hours, the toll climbed to 252.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the state will be divided into only two zones—red and green—during the fourth phase of lockdown. If any positive cases are found in the green zones, the zones will be reverted to red.
Industrial activities will be restricted only in the containment areas of both red and green zones. Markets will remain closed in all the zones and public transport buses will not be operated for another week, following which the decisions will be reviewed and necessary changes made, the chief minister said in an address to the citizens of the state.
Red and Green
Entire Indore and Ujjain districts and urban (municipal) areas of Bhopal, Burhanpur, Jabalpur, Khandwa, Dewas, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Dhar and Kushi will be in red zone. All other districts will be in green zone, but the containment areas within these green districts will have restrictions on activities.
The chief minister said that special restrictions will be in place in containment areas (with active positive cases) of both zones. Movement of people in and out of these areas will not be allowed and only medical emergency and essential services related movements will be allowed.
Restrictions on public gatherings of social, cultural, academic and religious nature and places where mass gatherings are expected will continue according to the guidelines of the central government, the CM said. Apart from these restrictions, all other activities are allowed in the green zones. However, for red zones only activities, as permitted under central guidelines for such zones, will be allowed, he said.
Physical distancing, masks mandatory
The chief minister said that physical distancing and wearing of masks at public places and work places will be mandatory all across the state. Only 50 people will be allowed for marriages and only 20 for funerals. Fines will be slapped for spitting in public while consumption of liquor and tobacco products in public places will be prohibited and guidelines related to physical distancing and personal sanitization arrangements at shops and work places will have to be followed, he said.
Indore crosses 2,500-mark, Bhopal 1,000 mark
Even as the new guidelines were announced, several other statistical marks related to COVID-19 were also breached, with Indore reaching 2,565 cases and 101 deaths on Monday, compared to 2,470 cases and 100 deaths on Sunday. Bhopal crossed the 1,000-mark to reach 1030 cases with 39 deaths.
Though the chief minister said that the number of positive cases was on the declining trend in the state, the analysis of statistics showed that the rate of increase of positive cases has accelerated with the latest 1,000 cases being detected in just five days. MP had reached the 1,000 case mark on April 16; 2,000-mark on April 26 (10 days gap); and 3,000-mark on May 5 (nine days gap) and 4000-mark on May 13 (eight days gap).
The chief minister also mentioned that eight districts in the state had become COVID-19 free with no active positive cases there at present.
Health activist Amulya Nidhi, however, said that though the acceleration of case in Madhya Pradesh was in keeping with the global trends, the response of the country as well as the state was not according to global protocol.
“The state has failed on all four counts – identification, isolation, testing and treatment. Almost 69 per cent of the patients died within 3 days of being admitted to the hospitals according to state government’s own analysis. Of these 31 per cent died on the same day of admission,” Nidhi pointed out.
Also, he mentioned, the MP government seems to be intent of hiding data and details. “Now, the bulletin of the state health department does not give the crucial figure of total number of samples collected and samples pending for tests. They have also stopped giving the number of critical cases, the number of isolation beds and ventilators available. They have also stopped mentioning that the treatment and testing facilities are free of cost and patients are being fleeced,” Nidhi said.
