COVID scare: Weekend lockdown in all cities of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday (April 8) declared a weekend lockdown in urban areas of the state to stem the rapid rise in COVID cases.

The 60-hour lockdown will be in effect from 6pm on Friday to 6am on Monday. “The crisis management group will take appropriate decision for other areas where cases are rising. For cities, containment areas will be marked and the crisis management group will decide on what to do in areas where the caseload is high,” Chouhan said during a media interaction, without saying if the weekend lockdown will continue next week as well.

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The chief minister said he doesn’t intend to impose another lockdown, but the “unprecedented crisis” has forced him to take the tough call.

Besides, all urban areas in Madhya Pradesh will be under a daily night curfew (10 pm to 6am) till further orders. Also, all government offices will operate five days a week, from Monday to Friday, for the next three months. Additionally, Chhindwara district will be under complete lockdown from 8pm on Thursday for the next seven days.

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has also suspended bus services to neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra till April 15.

On Wednesday, the state’s Covid-19 stood at 3,18,014 with 4,043 new cases and 13 more deaths. A total of 4,086 people have died due to COVID since last year. Active cases stand at 26,059, while 287,860 people have recovered.

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State capital Bhopal and Indore are among the worst affected districts in the state. A total of 866 new cases were reported in Indore on Wednesday while Bhopal registered 618 cases. Indore has reported 981 casualties so far while Bhopal has registered 641 deaths.