Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has announced a lockdown for the weekend in the urban areas of the state.
According to ANI, he announced during a press conference, and was quoted as saying "In the wake of COVID-19 situation, there'll be lockdown from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday in all urban areas of MP. For cities where cases have increased, appropriate action will be taken after meeting of crisis management group. We're making containment areas in big cities".
In view of the rising cases, the government has decided to close all hostels in the state capital Bhopal indefinitely.
ALSO READ: India Records 1,26,789 Fresh COVID-19 Cases, Highest Single-Day Spike Since Pandemic Began
Bhopal District Collector Avinash Lavania has directed the hostel superintendents of the government colleges to keep the departmental hostels closed till further orders for the prevention of coronavirus infections.
Earlier, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department had instructed to discontinue teaching and othe academic activities in all the schools and colleges of Bhopal till April 15. He had also instructed that all undergraduate and postgraduate examinations for the academic year 2020-21 will be held in the months of May and June, reported IANS.
As per data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Thursday, the country in past 24 hours reported a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 1,29,28,574. Madhya Pradesh is also one of the major contributors to the caseload along with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. There are about 26059 registered active cases in Madhya Pradesh according to the MOHFW website.
In Chhattisgarh more than 10,000 cases have been reported in last 24 hours, there are 58,883 active cases in the state & 53 people have died in last 24 hours.
Earlier this week, the central government said that the intensity of the coronavirus pandemic has increased in India. As per the union health ministry, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh are the cause of maximum concern.
The country's recovery rate has further dropped to 91.67 per cent. The data stated that number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,18,51,393, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.29 per cent.