Madhya Pradesh coronavirus update: Lockdown extended in Indore till Apr 19

The lockdown currently underway in Indore which was initially scheduled to end on Monday, i.e. April 12, has now been extended till 6

Lalwani said this was decided in a meeting of the Indore District Crisis Management Committee chaired by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday.

He further said that vegetable and milk shops in the city will remain open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm, adding that grocery and medical stores will also continue to remain open during the lockdown.

Lalwani said that the situation of Indore is worrisome as compared to other cities and districts.

"Home isolation has been encouraged because last time when we did home isolation then around 3,000 people were able to avail facilities. We will issue a protocol for who should be home isolated and who should be hospitalised," he said.

The MP further informed that a COVID control room/centre will be established that will function 24 hours and seven days a week.

"The main aim is to guide people on various issues like where to get tested, which hospital to approach for the treatment and other such querries of people shall be addressed and they shall be guided accordingly," he said.

Lalwani said that beds and oxygen supply will be increased because there has been a rise in cases. "The govt will issue SOPs identifying and categorising patients who need hospitalisation or home isolation or COVID isolation centre. Moreover, emphasis will be laid on conducting more tests."

He also said that the demand for oxygen supply in the city has increased by 60 per cent and to monitor the situation and keep a watch on the demand for oxygen, a team has been formed which will audit the requirement of oxygen in all the hospitals in the city.

The meeting was attended by Indore Mayor Krishna Murari Moghe, District Collector Manish Singh, MP Shankar Lalwani, and ministers Tulsi Silawat, Usha Thakur, Mahendra Hardia, Malini Gaur, Madhu Verma and Akash Vijayvargiya.

According to Union Health Ministry, Madhya Pradesh reported 4,882 new cases on Saturday.

The ministry said that India's total Active Caseload reached 10,46,631 on Saturday. It comprised 7.93 per cent of the country's total Positive Cases. A net incline of 67,023 cases was recorded from the total active caseload yesterday, it had said.