Bhopal diary

Express News Service
Tiger reserves on alert after lions test positiveTiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries have been put on alert in Madhya Pradesh after five Asiatic lions at the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) in Hyderabad tested positive for Covid-19. As per officials in the state forest department, all tiger reserves, national parks, sanctuaries, and safaris were already on alert following an advisory by the Ministry of Environment and Forest on the possibility of Covid-19 spread among wild animals. The development at NZP has led to more concerns. Most of the wildlife parks, tiger reserves, and sanctuaries are already closed due to a surge in Covid-19 cases that has prompted curfews or lockdowns in the affected districts.

Covid-19 patient dies due to delay in treatmentA 40-year-old suspected Covid-19 patient died in the state’s Ratlam district on Tuesday after he couldn’t get timely treatment. Advocate Suresh Dagar’s brother Anil Dagar took him on a motorbike from one hospital to the other. First, they went to a government medical college but were turned away after a wait of about two hours. Anil then took Suresh to a private hospital, but it was too late. “A CT scan of chest done at a private clinic showed acute infection in my brother’s lungs, after which the doctor there referred him to the government medical college. However, despite waiting at the medical college’s gates for more than two hours, we couldn’t get a bed or emergency treatment for him. We then took him to a private hospital, but he didn’t survive,” Anil said.

500 detained for violating Covid-19 norms in IndoreMore than 500 people have been detained and action was taken against a four-wheeler showroom, dairy shops, grocery stores, and a few other commercial establishments for flouting Covid-19 norms and restrictions in the state’s Covid-19 hotspot of Indore on Tuesday. Around 250 people were detained in temporary jails for a few hours in the city’s western part. In the east, 253 people were detained, Indore Police said. Most of those detained were found roaming around without any credible reasons amid lockdown.

By-poll loss exposes cracks within the BJPThe BJP’s shock defeat in the recently-held Assembly by-poll election for Damoh seat in Madhya Pradesh has brought to the fore internal differences within the party. BJP candidate Rahul Singh Lodhi (who won the 2018 poll on Congress ticket) has blamed former minister and six-time BJP MLA Jayant Malaiya and his son Siddharth Malaiya for his defeat. Malaiya has responded saying he doesn’t need Lodhi’s loyalty certificate. State’s home minister Narottam Mishra too has attributed the party’s loss to internal divisions, blaming ‘Jaichands’ (traitors).

anuraag singhOur correspondent in  Madhya Pradesh [email protected]