With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to impose lockdown on Sundays in three big cities—Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur—from March 21 till further orders.
Night curfews will continue in these three cities while markets will close early (at 10.00pm) in seven other cities: Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Chhindwara, Burhanpur, Betul and Khargone.
A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday evening. The meeting came on a day when the state recorded 1,140 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths during the previous 24 hours. During the meeting, it was mentioned that the positivity rate of infection had gone up to 5.5 per cent, which is a worrying situation.
Following the meeting, the state home department issued new guidelines. According to the decision, classes in schools and colleges have been suspended till March 31, although the prescheduled examinations will be held as usual. The MP Public Service Commission exam, slated to begin from March 21, will also be held according to schedule, and students and candidates will be allowed commutation even in cities where lockdown has been imposed.
It is almost a year after the first countrywide lockdown commenced that lockdown has made a comeback in Madhya Pradesh again. During the past week, the COVID-19 cases have shown a steep increase. In the past eight days, Indore has reported 2,087 cases while Bhopal has reported 1,442 cases. Jabalpur and Gwalior have reported 445 and 224 cases, respectively, in the past eight days.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 2,73,097 while the death toll was at 3,901 as of Friday evening. The number of active cases stood at 6,609.
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Meanwhile, on Thursday, the state government decided to discontinue passenger bus services to and from neighbouring Maharashtra from Friday to March 31, as the western state is reporting the highest number of cases in the country.
During the meeting, Chouhan reiterated his appeal for the people to use masks, maintain physical distancing, not cause crowding anywhere and follow all other COVID-19 protocols. He said that the people who are not using masks are not only putting their own lives in danger, but also those of others.