Janata curfew: People remain indoors; shops shut in MP

People in Madhya Pradesh remained indoors and roads wore a deserted look on Sunday in view of the 'Janata curfew' call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the fight against coronavirus a success.

Most of the cities woke up to empty streets as even morning walkers and joggers did not venture out of their homes.

Gardens, stadiums and other public grounds, that usually witness crowds on Sundays, were empty.

Roadside shops and eateries also remained closed across the state.

Four districts - Jabalpur, Rewa, Seoni and Narsinghpur- have already been placed under lockdown since Saturday.

Madhya Pradesh recorded its first cases of coronavirus on Friday with four persons testing positive in Jabalpur city.

While people crowded streets of Jabalpur till two days back, it appeared like a ghost town on Sunday after the four COVID-19 cases surfaced.

Three members of a family, who returned fromDubai, and another person, who came back from Germany, werefound to be infected.

They have been hospitalised and are beingprovided medical treatment.

These four persons, residents of a densely populated area in Jabalpur, apparently came in contact with a number of people since their return from abroad.

To check the spread of coronavirus, authorities in several districts of the state have taken various measures, like shutting schools, cinema halls and museums, keeping passenger buses off roads and closing down restaurants and markets.

The Essential Commodities Act has also been imposed in the state to check hoarding of masks and hand sanitisers.

The prime minister proposed a 'Janta curfew' on Sunday between 7 am and 9 pm as part of social distancing to check the spread of the deadly virus.