Madhya Pradesh on Friday imposed fresh curbs in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Three Madhya Pradesh cities - Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur - will have lockdown every Sunday and a night curfew will be imposed in these places every Saturday from 10 pm to Monday 6 am, as per an order issued by the state home department. However, all essential services will remain exempt. The orde further notified that schools and colleges in these three cities will remain closed till 31st March.
MP government had imposed a night curfew in Bhopal and Indore city areas from Wednesday. Besides, shops remain closed after 10 pm in eight other cities - Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Chhindwara, Burhanpur, Betul and Khargone.
On Holi, no public programs will be allowed, but the festival can be celebrated by individuals.
On Friday, the state logged as many as 1,140 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 2,73,097, while seven deaths increased the toll to 3,901, an official said.
"556 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 2,62,587, he said adding, "Four of 52 districts in the state did not report a new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours."
"A death each was reported from Bhopal, Gwalior, Ujjain, Chhindwara, Khandwa, Shajapur and Umaria. Indore's caseload rose by 309 to reach 63.510, while that of Bhopal touched 46,383 with the addition of 272 cases. The active caseload in the two cities is 1,960 and 1,495 respectively," he further said.
With 20,770 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the number of tests in MP crossed 60.92 lakh.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh continue to report a high number of daily coronavirus cases, accounting for 80.63% of the new infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
India recorded over 30,000 new cases today for the second consecutive day. Today's surge is nearly 11% higher than the daily spike in cases recorded yesterday morning. The country has been recording more than 20,000 cases since last week.
In terms of response, the Centre is actively engaging with all state and Union Territories (UTs) governments, especially those showing an upsurge in daily new cases and with a high caseload of active cases. The government is regularly reviewing the status of Covid-19 containment and public health measures with them, as per the statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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