Madhya Pradesh suspends movement of buses from Maharashtra amidst rising COVID-19 cases

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a series of restrictions in the state today to curb the spread of coronavirus, which is spiking again in parts of the country in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a "second peak".

In view of the explosive Covid outbreak once again in neighbouring Maharashtra, the Chief Minister also ordered that bus service to and from Maharashtra be stopped from March 20.

The government has already advised officials in border districts to place the passengers arriving from Maharashtra in a week-long quarantine.

Maharashtra logged 25,833 fresh cases of Covid over the last 24 hours -- the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Fifty-eight people have died.

Under the new rules, markets in parts of Madhya Pradesh will remain closed from 10 pm to 6 am.

Timing for commercial establishments and markets have been curtailed in Gwalior, Jabalpur, including the most affected districts of the state -- Ujjain, Sagar, Betul, Burhanpur, Khargone, Ratlam and Chhindwara.

With coronavirus spreading fast once again, economic activities cannot be halted to control it, the Chief Minister said at an online meeting today with district officials and doctors.

Precautions must be strictly followed to avoid Covid, otherwise the government will have to take stringent action, he said. "This is a re-test of good governance in the state. We have to defeat Corona without panicking," he added.

The Chief Minister also directed that necessary arrangements be made immediately to increase the number of vaccinations to 5 lakh per day.

Over the last seven days, 1,778 positive cases were registered in Indore, 1,170 in Bhopal, 358 in Jabalpur, 185 in Gwalior, 187 in Ujjain, 162 in Ratlam, 147 in Chhindwara, 130 in Burhanpur, 110 in Betul and 92 in Khargone.

In the last 24 hours, the state has logged 917 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking its total to 2,71,957.

One person has died, taking the number of fatalities to 3,894.

Maharashtra reported as many as 25,833 new COVID-19 cases and 12,764 recoveries in the last 24 hours on Thursday as per the state health department.

The state also reported 58 deaths in this period, taking the death toll to 53,138. The total number of cases in the state now stands at 23,96,340, including 21,75,565 recoveries, and 1,66,353 active cases.

Many districts in the state observed lockdown due to rising cases of coronavirus.

Pune reported 4,965 of the 25,833 cases in the last 24 hours yesterday. The district also reported 31 deaths in the said period, taking the death toll in the district to 9,486. The total number of cases in the district now stands at 4,53,532 including 4,14,086 recoveries, and 30,129 active cases.