“Have To Shut Everything Till May 15”: Madhya Pradesh Declares Lockdown

On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh reported 12,319 coronavirus cases (File)

Bhopal:

The Madhya Pradesh government has declared a complete lockdown in the state till May 15 to bring under control the coronavirus surge that has overwhelmed health infrastructures across the country. Announcing the shutdown, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the state can’t remain open with an 18 per cent case positivity rate.

“To break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus in the state, we have to completely shut everything till May 15 — strict ‘Janata Curfew’,” he was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
“We can’t shut things for too long, but with more than 18% positivity, we can’t remain open,” he added.

On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh reported 12,319 coronavirus cases and 71 fatalities in 24 hours. The state’s total tally of infections is 6,24,985, whereas fatalities stand at 6,074.

A total of 9,643 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries to 5,29,667, according to official data.

The number of active cases in the state stands at a whopping 89,244.

Several states, including Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra, have imposed lockdowns or lockdown-like restrictions to bring down active caseloads brought on by the rapid second wave of infections.

Many of these states were initially reluctant to impose severe restrictions as they could severely harm economies. However, acute shortages of hospital beds and life-saving medical supplies because of the rapidly growing caseloads forced them to make the tough choice between lives and livelihoods.

With inputs from PTI