BHOPAL: Continued Covid-19 surge has prompted the Madhya Pradesh government to order lockdown on Sunday (March 21) in three prime cities -- Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur.
All schools and colleges in these three cities will remain closed till March 31.
The decision in this regard was taken on Friday evening at the Covid-19 situation review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
"Keeping in mind the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases, there will be lockdown in three major cities, Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur from Saturday 10.00 pm to Monday 6.00 am.
Essential services and industrial units, however, will continue to function during the lockdown. Permission will have to be taken from local administration in the three cities for organising social programmes/functions during Sunday's lockdown.
"It has also been decided to close all schools and colleges in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur till March 31," the CM maintained.
Briefing the meeting about latest developments, the state's additional chief secretary (ACS-Health) Mohd Suleman said, around 21,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the state on Thursday, as per which the positivity rate has risen to 5.5 per cent, which is high.
ALSO WATCH:
According to the state COVID-19 health bulletin released on Friday evening, MP reported 1140 new cases during last 24 hours, which is the highest single day COVID-19 spike in the central Indian state this year. As many as seven deaths were also reported in the state over the last 24 hours due to the killer viral infection.
A break-up of the Friday's COVID-19 statewide figures, revealed that Indore with 309 cases, Bhopal with 272 cases and Jabalpur with 97 cases contributed to 60 per cent of the total 1,140 cases reported in the state during the last 24 hours.
A further analysis of Friday's figures revealed that out of the total 6,609 active cases presently in the state, 3,856 cases (58.34 per cent) were present in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur only.
While Indore has 1,960 active cases, Bhopal has 1,495 cases followed by 401 active cases in Jabalpur.