Madhya Pradesh imposes weekend lockdown in all urban areas as COVID-19 spreads

"I do not want a long lockdown, this is the last option," said Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan amid a spurt in coronavirus cases.

File Photo (ANI)

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday (April 8, 2021) announced to impose weekend lockdown in all the urban areas due to rise in COVID-19 cases. The weekend lockdown will be enforced from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday.

"I do not want a long lockdown, this is the last option. But to break the situation a little, urban areas will remain closed in Madhya Pradesh from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday, the lockdown will remain," said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

He also said that his government aims to increase the number of beds for COVID-19 patients in the state to one lakh.

मैं लंबा लॉक डाउन नहीं चाहता, ये अंतिम विकल्प है। लेकिन स्थिति को थोड़ा ब्रेक करने के लिये मध्यप्रदेश में शुक्रवार को शाम को 6 बजे से लेकर सोमवार से सुबह 6 बजे तक शहरी क्षेत्र बंद रहेंगे, लॉकडाउन रहेगा: मुख्यमंत्री श्री @chouhanshivraj#MPFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/t8aITWBAdc — CMO Madhya Pradesh (@CMMadhyaPradesh) April 8, 2021

The Chief Minister informed that various crisis management groups will hold meetings to review the situation in cities where there has been a surge in COVID-19 infections and will decide the course of action to contain it.

The Madhya Pradesh government has also decided to set up one COVID-19 care centre in each district and the private hospitals are also being roped in to increase the number of beds for COVID-19 patients, CM Chouhan stated. 

This is to be noted that in the past three weeks, the state government has imposed lockdowns in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior on Sundays and extended the curbs to some other cities last Sunday.

Madhya Pradesh witnessed 4,043 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which took the state's total COVID-19 tally to 3,18,014, of which, 26,059 are active cases. 

Since March 31, Madhya Pradesh has recorded 22,503 fresh COVID-19 cases including 100 fatalities. The state has so far seen 4,086 deaths and 2,87,869 recoveries.

(With inputs from agencies)