Covid-19 cases surge in Indore, health official blames 'careless behaviour' of people

“The death rate is still less than 1.6 per cent. In Indore, we have reported 7 deaths in the month of February," Dr Malakar said.

Indore’s nodal officer for Covid-19, Dr Amit Malakar, said on Monday that “casual and careless” behaviour of the people is behind the increase in the number of infections in the Madhya Pradesh city. “I have seen that people are not wearing masks and not using sanitiser,” news agency ANI quoted Dr Malakar as saying.

“I have seen that people are not wearing masks and not using sanitiser,” Dr Malakar said. (AFP | Representational image)

He also said that seven people have lost their lives due to the disease in Indore in February. “The death rate is still less than 1.6 per cent. In Indore, we have reported 7 deaths in the month of February. We have sent around 100 positive samples from Indore to NCDC [National Centre for Disease Control], Delhi and NIV [National Institute of Virology], Pune to identify the strain,” he added.

Earlier on Saturday, the Union health ministry had said that five states, namely, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have seen a spike in the number of daily new cases of Covid-19.

“Since 13th Feb 2021, Madhya Pradesh is also witnessing a rise in number of daily new cases,” the ministry had said in a statement on Saturday. However, the government hasn’t mentioned Indore in its list of cities and districts that needed to exercise "special caution".

On Sunday, Indore reported 135 new Covid-19 cases taking the city’s overall tally to 58,756. Also, Indore had 612 active cases, news agency PTI reported, citing a Madhya Pradesh state health official.

Indore was one of India’s Covid-19 hotspots, contributing nearly 50 per cent of all cases reported in Madhya Pradesh in May last year. However, the situation started increasing and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said a month later that the disease has been brought under control.