Night curfew returns to MP amid rising Covid cases in neighbouring states, Omicron fears
BHOPAL: In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases and the strong possibility of the third wave of the killer viral ailment striking the state amid a sharp spurt in cases in adjoining Maharashtra, Gujarat, besides national capital Delhi, Madhya Pradesh announced a six-hour night curfew across the state, starting with Thursday night.
“After months, our state has reported 30 new cases within a single day on Thursday. The alarming rise in COVID cases in neighbouring Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi is a cause of particular concern, as in the first wave and the second wave of the pandemic also, the rise in cases in these states was ensued by rising in COVID cases in MP, particularly Indore and Bhopal. If we compare the number of cases reported till now in December this year, the state has already reported a three-fold rise, when compared with the entire November 2021,” Chouhan said in an address to the state on Thursday evening.
“Some days back, the state government had decided to run offline classes in schools at maximum 50% capacity. Now we’re deciding to impose a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am. If the situation worsens further, more measures will follow suit. The central government has issued guidelines in view of the spread of the new variant Omicron. Cases of the same variant could well be reported in MP as well in future. I appeal to all to start wearing masks and adhering to other COVID appropriate behaviour strictly. People are advised to avoid large gatherings,” the CM said, stopping short of announcing any ban of New Year gatherings/parties in the state.
Importantly, with 30 fresh cases being reported in the last 24 hours in the state, 23 of them in Indore and Bhopal only (12 in Indore and 11 in Bhopal), the state has reported 411 cases so far in December, compared to 316 in the entire November month.
The state, however, hasn’t till now reported any case of Omicron variant, as the reports of the samples of COVID positive patients (around 20 of whom were overseas returnees) sent for genome sequencing are yet to be received from NCDC.