By Express News Service
BHOPAL: Complete lockdown till April 19 morning has been announced in 11 districts of Madhya Pradesh on a day when the state officially reported 4,986 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 deaths over the last 24 hours.
According to the state’s additional chief secretary (ACS-Home) Rajesh Rajoura, “decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan for a complete lockdown of nine days or more in all parts of 11 districts. The decision was taken based on the proposals by crisis management groups of those districts.”
The complete lockdown will be effective in 11 districts of concern, including Chhindwra, Khargone, Katni, Ratlam, Betul, Barwani, Rajgarh, Vidisha, Seobi, Narsinghpur and Balaghat till April 19 morning.
Also, the two-days lockdown in the city areas of Shajapur district has been extended to eight more days, while the lockdown in all urban areas of Indore, including Rau and Mhow towns, has also been extended till April 19 morning. In Ujjain district, the lockdown has been extended till April 19 morning in all urban areas.
Further, the lockdown in Jabalpur district will be effective from April 12 night to April 22 morning.
Detailing about other decisions taken at the meeting chaired by the CM, the state’s medical education minister Vishwas Sarang informed that a sum of Rs 2 crores (Rs 104 crore total) has been sanctioned by the state government to each of the 52 districts for COVID-19 related arrangements.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 surge continued in the state uncontrolled with 4986 new cases being reported over the last 24 hours with 13.2% day’s positivity rate. At least 24 deaths officially were reported during the past 24 hours, while 2741 patients recovered from the killer viral infection.
With this the state presently has 32,707 active cases and since March 2020, total 3,32,206 positive cases, 2,95,598 recoveries and 4160 deaths have been reported in the state.
Over the past 24 hours, new cases breached 900 mark in Indore (912 cases) and 700 mark in Bhopal (736 cases). Seven more districts also reported new cases in three digit figures, including Jabalpur (369), Gwalior (323), Ujjain (150), Ratlam (140), Betul (130), Katni (127) and Barwani (105).
