People of a village in Indore in Madhya Pradesh have come in for praise for disallowing the entry of outsiders as a measure to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, with videos of a minister and the district collector talking to them at a barrier point going viral on social media. Dhabli is a village of 7,000 people and is some 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, and the move to barricade it from outsiders started after it reported two to three COVID-19 deaths, officials explained on Monday.

State minister Tulsiram Silawat and Indore collector Manish Singh, who were on a COVID-19 review tour, stood at a barrier point to talk out of respect for the villagers' decision to not allow outsiders, they said. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

"After the death of two to three persons here from COVID-19, we set up barriers to stop the entry of outsiders.The youth take turns to man the barrier, as it protects us from COVID-19," Dhabli sarpanch Mahesh Parihar told PTI.

In a tweet, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan praised the hamlet. "I welcome the citizens of Dhabli of Sanver Janpad who are fighting in a determined manner against COVID-19," he said.

MP Village Barricades Itself from Outsiders to Contain Covid-19 Spread

Dhabli is a village of 7,000 people and is some 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, and the move to barricade it from outsiders started after it reported two to three COVID19 deaths, officials explained on Monday.