Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced a 60-hour weekend lockdown in the urban areas of the state amid the surge in daily coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Chouhan announced the lockdown that will be in effect from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday.
The chief minister said in an interaction with the media, “I chaired a high-level review meeting over Covid-19. In all urban areas of Madhya Pradesh, a lockdown will be in effect from 6 pm on Friday till 6 am on Monday. In other areas where cases are rising, the crisis management group will decide an appropriate course of action. We will also come up with containment areas in major cities. The crisis management group will hold a meeting later in the day to decide on what to do in areas where the viral caseload is high.”
आज #COVID19 की उच्चस्तरीय समीक्षा की। प्रदेश के सभी शहरों में शुक्रवार शाम 6 बजे से लेकर शनिवार, रविवार और सोमवार सुबह 6 बजे तक शहरी क्षेत्र बंद रहेंगे, लॉकडाउन रहेगा।
आपसे आग्रह है कि जागरुक रहिये, गाइडलाइंस का पालन कीजिये व कोरोना की रोकथाम में योगदान दीजिये।#MPFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/p384axIsT9
— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) April 8, 2021
“Though it has never been my intention to impose a lockdown, we are facing an unprecedented crisis,” Chouhan further said.
He, however, did not announce whether the weekend lockdown is only for now or if it will be in effect till further orders.
Chouhan’s announcement comes on a day all urban areas in Madhya Pradesh will witness a daily night curfew till further orders, as directed by the state government on Wednesday.
Along with this a night curfew will be in effect from 10pm on a day till 6am the next day according to the government’s order. Hence, it also announced that all government offices will operate five days a week, from Monday to Friday, for the next three months. As well as the entire Chhindwara district will go under lockdown from 8pm on Thursday for the next seven days.
The Madhya Pradesh government has announced several measures to control the spread of the pandemic in the last few days, including suspending bus services with the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh till April 15.
According to the health department, on Wednesday, the state’s Covid-19 total coronavirus tally rose to 318,014 with the addition of 4,043 new cases. The related death toll, meanwhile, is at 4,086 as 13 more people succumbed to the viral disease.
However, the active cases are at 26,059, while 287,860 people have recovered thus far.
Indore, the largest city in Madhya Pradesh, is also the worst-hit, and saw its caseload rise to 74,895 with 866 new cases. Bhopal, the state capital, is next, with an infection tally of 55,215, an increase of 618 infections. Indore has seen 981 deaths thus far while Bhopal has recorded 641 fatalities.
