Bhopal: In view of the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Madhya Pradesh government imposed night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am beginning Thursday till further orders.
"In view of the rapid spread of the Omicron virus in the world, it is the right time for all to remain alert on the issue. In view of this situation, it is better for people to take precautions now to avoid the arrival of a third wave and as a precautionary measure, a night curfew will come into force from tonight," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in his address to the people of the state.
Chouhan urged the people to take all precautions to ensure the Covid third wave does not strike and there is no surge in further cases.
“Omicron is spreading at a rapid pace. Around one lakh cases are reported in England every day, around 2.5 lakh cases are coming up every day in the United States as well,” he said.
The Chief Minister also urged the people of the state to wear masks and maintain social distancing while ensuring to get Covid vaccination at the earliest.
“We cannot forget the problems faced during the second wave,” he added expressing concern over the rise in cases in Indore and Bhopal.
More than 10 crore vaccine doses against Covid-19 have so far been administered in Madhya Pradesh.
The state has, however, so far not registered any case of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Earlier in the day, a health official said that around 14 overseas travellers, who landed at the Indore airport in the last one month, have tested positive for Covid-19.
Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr B.S. Saitya said that 2,100 of the 3,300 persons, who flew to Indore from foreign countries via different airports in the country in the last one month, were screened.
He further said that 14 of them tested positive for the viral infection and added their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to ascertain if they have contracted Omicron variant, PTI reported.