The "Corona curfew" or lockdown is likely to be extended in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal till May 10, given the continuing surge in new COVID-19 cases.
Similarly, in other parts of the state too, the curfew is likely to be extended till May 7. Along with the weekend curfew already in place, almost all places in Madhya Pradesh will effectively remain closed till the morning of May 10.
The home minister Narottam Mishra told media persons on Thursday that a discussion on extending "corona curfew" in Bhopal was held at a meeting of the crisis management committee earlier in the day. The formal order of extending curfew will be issued by the district collector. The collector also told a section of media that despite the restrictions, the number of cases was not reducing as expected. Currently, "corona curfew" is effective in Bhopal and several other cities till the morning of May 3.
Bhopal reported 1,811 new cases—the highest in the state, and three deaths in 24 hours as of Thursday, while 1,668 recovered. The number of active cases in Bhopal is 13,167, which is also the highest in the state, followed by Indore at 12,608. Indore reported 1,780 new cases on Thursday, while 2,342 recovered.
There were some positive trends as overall, the state reported 12,762 positive cases and 95 deaths in the past 24 hours, while 13,363 recovered. The number of active cases went down on the day by 696 and stood at 92,077. On Wednesday, the state had reported 92,773 active cases. The positivity rate also showed a slight dip and was reported at 21.4 per cent.
Two ex-MLAs, Mahila Cong chief succumb
Meanwhile, three more prominent politicians, all of the Congress, succumbed to COVID-19 infection in the state. Ex-MLA Rajendra Singh Baghel from Dewas and ex-minister Ramkumar Patel of Jabalpur and Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress chief Mandvi Chouhan succumbed to the infection. Earlier, Congress MLA Kalawati Bhuria of Jobat had died of COVID-19.
Reports of deaths of prominent persons have been trickling in regularly from across the state with Bhopal losing at least half a dozen littérateurs and poets including Padma Shree awardee Manzoor Ahtesham, succumbing to complications of the infections over the past week.
The number of politicians, journalists and government officials also passed away during the past few days, giving a fair indication of the high fatality count during the second wave of the pandemic, though the government figures continue to present a contained picture.
Kamal Nath attacks on deaths, lack of planning
Ex-chief minister and MP Congress chief Kamal Nath attacked the state government once again on Thursday, accusing it of suppressing death figures while the bodies that are coming in for last rites at crematoriums and graveyards present a different picture.
There have been constant local media reports of a high number of bodies on whom the last rites were performed as per COVID-19 protocol, while government reports kept claiming single-digit fatalities in those districts.
In a supplementary action taken report presented in MP High Court on April 28, the state government specifically said that 'there is no attempt on the part of the state government to misreport any information, in context of figures of death.
“The deaths reported by the state in the daily dashboard are simply an aggregate of death reports reported by the districts on Sarthak portal which in turn are compiled by the office of chief medical and health officer from COVID hospitals reporting their daily admissions, deaths and discharges in the district. ..All data is entered directly by districts on the online portal and is simply reported as such in the daily dashboard,” the government report to the court said.
At a press conference on Thursday, Nath said that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government was criminally negligent about arrangements and prevention despite being warned of the second wave in advance. He said that the government has no planning or thought and lacks seriousness in dealing with the pandemic even now.
“Their management of the pandemic has totally collapsed and they are just busy with media and headlines management. But this will not control the pandemic, neither will the announcements and dramatics,” Nath said.
The ex-CM said that he has spoken to his district presidents who have said that the infection was spreading in rural areas too and the health infrastructure was inadequate to deal with it.
“I ask CM Chouhan to show me a single health facility in the state that has adequate drugs, injections, beds, oxygen supply, doctors and ambulance,” Nath said.
He also said that testing was inadequate, especially in rural areas with people waiting for two to three days to get tested and another four to six days to get the results.
“By that time the infected persons infect several more, which is very dangerous,” Nath said.
He also said that the government should have made buffer stock of life-saving drugs, oxygen and tankers well in time to avoid the current situation.
He suggested that the chief minister should get into his helicopters and go to villages to meet the people personally to know the ground situation and to not depend on the wrong feedback from his party workers.
The ex-CM also said that senior administrative officials from the state should be deputed to oxygen and tanker supplier firms to ensure proper supply to the state as he [Nath] by his personal experience knows that other states are doing so. He claimed that he has been personally calling up pharmaceutical firms and oxygen and tanker firms to ensure proper supply to MP, whenever needed.