The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to extend Sunday lockdown to five more districts as the state grapples with a spike in its daily news cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Live Hindustan, Hindustan Times’ sister publication has reported.
The state government has decided to impose Sunday lockdown in Vidisha, Ujjain, Gwalior, Narsinghpur and Sausar, an official from the Madhya Pradesh information department told Live Hindustan. “The decision to this effect was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday,” the official said.
The announcement means that Sunday lockdown will now be in effect in 12 districts of the central state. The government had first announced such a lockdown for Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur and, later, extended it to Khargone, Betul, Chhindwara and Ratlam. In fact, for Indore and Bhopal, a night curfew was announced earlier this month.
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The official further quoted CM Chouhan as saying that the state government has devised a three-fold strategy to curb the spread of the pandemic. This includes testing people, ensuring better treatment for those found positive, and conducting vaccinations at a rapid pace across the state.
On Friday, 2,091 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Madhya Pradesh, the highest single-day rise for the state in 2021, while nine more lives were lost to the viral infection. With this, the infection tally has risen to 284,265, while the death toll stands at 3,937. Of these, Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur saw 612, 425 and 156 fresh cases respectively.
Together, Indore and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh’s financial and legislative capitals, respectively, contribute more than 50% of the state’s overall Covid-19 caseload.
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