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After Indore, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh now in grip of Covid-19; govt deploys special team
Ujjain has 156 Covid-19 positive patients and 30 dead. The death rate of Ujjain is 26.92 per cent followed by Indore with 4.84 per cent and Bhopal with 2.81 per cent.
Worried over worsening Covid-19 situation Ujjain, which has highest death rate among major cities in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan instructed the health department officials on Sunday to send a special team of doctors immediately to control the situation over there, as per the state government officials.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party corporator in Ujjain died of Covid-19 on Sunday, 14 days after his hospitalisation.
As per the health department bulletin released on Sunday evening, the state’s tally of Covid-19 patients rose to 2,837 with increase of 49 new patients in the past 24 hours.
Indore, a major Covid-19 hotspot in the country, has registered 1,568 patients so far with 76 of them dead. State capital Bhopal is next in terms of number of cases. There are 532 Covid-19 patients in Bhopal; the death toll stands at 15.
Ujjain has 156 Covid-19 positive patients and 30 dead. The death rate of Ujjain is 26.92 per cent followed by Indore with 4.84 per cent and Bhopal with 2.81 per cent. The recovery percentage in Ujjain is 11.53 while in Indore it is 22.32 and Bhopal 44.54.
Jabalpur, another divisional headquarters which has had 96 patients so far, has witnessed just one death but its recovery rate is slightly worse than that of Ujjain - 10.41 per cent.
Chief minister’s instructions to authorities to send a special team to Ujjain came during a review meeting on Sunday.
An official communiqué from the government said, “It was found during the review of Ujjain district that the death rate of Corona patients is the highest over there. We have to save every patient at any rate.”
The chief minister also instructed the authorities to pay attention to Burhanpur too which has densely populated localities. Dhar administration was also instructed to be careful in the wake of the spread of Covid-19.
Additional chief secretary, health department, Mohd Suleman said, “As many as 2,600 tests are being carried in 14 labs of the state now. On May 3, fifty positive cases were found out of 2,608 tests.”
A BJP leader claimed the government took Ujjain situation seriously after the chief minister received complaint from party leaders that there was negligence in treatment of the 56-year-old BJP corporator who came from the minority community. He was admitted on April 20 and died on Sunday. He was active in distributing food packets among people in Covid-19 affected localities before he fell ill.
However, public health expert Amulya Nidhi termed the state government’s move to send a special team to Ujjain as ‘too little and too late’.
He said, “Ujjain’s situation has been grim for a long time. There was no adequate survey, screening, collection of samples and tests right from day one. There was inordinate delay in getting tests reports. Meanwhile, the virus was spreading alarmingly in certain localities under the very nose of the administration and health department. The government should immediately increase the number of tests and do a comprehensive survey and screening of people over there.”
Meanwhile, the state government has decided not to charge fare from labourers being brought in trains from other states. The state government has also notified a toll free phone number 0755-2411180 on which people stranded in other states can seek assistance and information.
