Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday reiterated the state government's commitment to fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, which is spreading like wildfire across India. Addressing the issue of identifying people who might possess a potential risk of infecting others with the virus, Chouhan said that people should come forward voluntarily and disclose their identities and information to the authorities.

"People should have come forward by themselves to disclose their information but they hesitated. The COVID-19 infection, therefore, kept spreading," the Chief Minister said, "There was a lack of cooperation. You will see this issue in some specific areas in Indore. People also create problems, apparent in the fact that the health staff can't enter some localities."

Notably, several disturbing reports have emerged of doctors and health workers being discriminated against by citizens, sometimes even outright attacked and insulted. A number of these incidents were reported from Madhya Pradesh's Indore, where the reports of confirmed COVID-19 cases are the highest in the state. According to reports, a team of doctors had arrived there but the people in Indore abused and pelted stones at the municipal employees who were cleaning the locality. However, cops assured that action will be taken against those who were involved in the act of assault.

"It is important to save lives and for this, it is required that the health staff goes back to those areas. I'd like to appeal to people to not toy with their own lives. If one becomes a carrier, then he will affect many others. We took strict action against such people. We invoked the National Security Act (NSA). If someone obstructs the medical procedure then FIR will be registered against them and they will be sent to jail," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan warned on this day.

Speaking on the issue of the Tablighi Jamaat event attendees testing positive for COVID-19 in large numbers across India, Chouhan said, "I am reiterating that no function, large or small, should be held. We will not let anyone toy with human lives. We identified 57 foreign Jamaatis. They came on tourist visas and moved around without informing anyone while being carriers. So their passports have been seized and they are being blacklisted."

He further said that the priority as of now is only to cut the spread of the virus and in this process, no obstruction will be tolerated. "We will take action against all those who become an obstruction in stopping COVID-19. We won't spare anyone. We will also monitor using drones," the Chief Minister said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had held a high-level meeting with officials in Bhopal the last week. The meeting was held to review preparedness in the wake of COVID-19. People should strictly follow lockdown imposed in 36 districts of the state. I appeal to people to stay at home for all of us.’ ‘Emergency and essential services will be available to people,’ Chouhan had told in his address to the media.

While taking his oath as the Chief Minister of the state on March 23, the veteran politician had made it clear that his top priority would be to helm the state machinery in tackling the coronavirus crisis, as it is the single-most crucial threat that the citizens are facing at this moment. Ahead of the ceremony, Chouhan had also appealed to the party workers not to celebrate the oath-taking ceremony in the wake of coronavirus.