The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to impose night curfew in capital city Bhopal and commercial capital Indore from March 17 in the wake of fresh spike in COVID-19 cases. Besides, markets will close early at 10.00pm in eight other cities of the state that are reporting an increase in cases.
Restrictions have also been imposed on people arriving in the state from neighbouring Maharashtra, which is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 cases. Thermal scanning of all passengers from Maharashtra will be conducted, and they will have to undergo mandatory seven-day home quarantine. Besides, mass programmes will not be held during the festival of Holi.
These decisions were taken at a review meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday. The night curfew timings will be separately decided by Bhopal and Indore district collectors.
The cities where markets will close early from March 17 include Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Chhindwara, Burhanpur, Betul and Khargone. It was decided that night curfews will be imposed in these cities if
cases continue to rise for the next three days.
Meanwhile, the budget session of the state assembly, that was scheduled till March 26, was adjourned sine die on Tuesday as five MLAs and some employees of the secretariat and those on assembly duty tested positive.
According to sources, on Tuesday, COVID-19 cases crossed the 800 mark in the state for the first time in 2021. Of these, 196 cases have been reported from Bhopal and 264 from Indore. The total cases in Madhya Pradesh now stand at 2,70,208, with new cases reported from 44 out of 52 districts. The death toll is at 3,861, with a fresh death reported from Khargone.
For the past three days, CM Chouhan has been appealing to people to take all precautions and follow COVID-19 protocols. He had also indicated that tougher decisions might be taken if the cases continued to rise. On Tuesday too, following the review meeting, he appealed to people of the state to not become complacent about the pandemic, wear mask, wash hands, maintain physical distancing and follow other protocols.
Bhopal and Indore have been among the most affected cities in the state right from the beginning of the pandemic a year ago. Bhopal has so far reported 45,731 cases and 252 deaths while Indore has reported 62,675 cases and 622 deaths.
Bhopal and Indore district administrations had already issued circulars, imposing restrictions on public gatherings and sports activities, and also guidelines for those arriving in the cities from Maharashtra. Bhopal administration has made COVID-19 negative report mandatory for those arriving from the neighbouring state, failing which they will have to undergo a test on arrival and go into home quarantine.