BHOPAL: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has decided to impose lockdown from 6pm on Friday to 6am on Monday to arrest the rising number of corona cases. Except for Damoh, all other cities will be under lockdown. As the by-election is being held in Damoh, the district electoral officer will take a decision on whether to place the area under lockdown.
Chouhan held discussions with officers in the morning on Thursday and reviewed the situation arising out of the pandemic.In the meeting, it was decided that Betul, Ratlam, Khargone and Katni would be under lockdown till the morning of April 17. The collectors have been given the right to put the corona hotspots under lockdown for seven or 10 days. CM said the district administration had been asked to hold discussions with the crisis management and take necessary actions on the ground of load of patients and local conditions. He said that cantonment areas would be set up in cities taking into consideration the situation arising out the pandemic. The CM also said that the number of beds would be increased from 36,000 to 1, 00,000. The services of private hospitals along with those of the government ones would be taken, he said. In Bhopal, the services of JK Hospital and People's Hospital have already been taken and the same method would be applied to other cities. According to Chouhan, Covid-19 is such a pandemic that it is difficult to evaluate the behaviour of virus. The number of positive cases is rising and a decision will be taken after holding discussions with the Cabinet ministers, MPs and MLAs on Friday, he said.