The lockdown in several Madhya Pradesh cities has been prolonged. According to a decision made by the Crisis Management Committee, the lockdown in Bhopal, Indore, and Ujjain has been extended until April 26.

Only basic utilities would be excluded from the corona curfew, and people coming in or departing the city by train, bus, or other means would not be inconvenienced.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Chief Minister, had previously declared that devotees returning from the Kumbh Mela would be quarantined.

New policies have been announced in response to the state’s rising COVID-19 incidents, following the implementation of a night curfew and other constraints.

The lockdown in Madhya Pradesh is formally known as a ‘corona curfew,’ though the rules are lockdown-like with certain exceptions. As the number of cases continues to rise, the decision to expand the restrictions in Bhopal, Indore, and Ujjain was made at meetings of the respective crisis management committees.

Bhopal has surpassed even Indore in terms of daily cases, with 1,669 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, compared to 1,656 in Indore. Officially, the districts recorded six and seven deaths in 24 hours, respectively, but local media alleged that over 115 last rites under the COVID-19 protocol were performed in Bhopal alone during that period.

According to Bhopal district collector Avinash Lavania, restrictions on the excessive movement of people will be tightened in the coming week, and only those working with and requesting emergency services will be able to leave. The formal instructions are scheduled to be released later in the evening.

Indore collector Manish Singh explained that the limits were put in place due to a lack of hospital beds. However, the rules would be the same as they were the previous week, he added. Due to the wedding season, some shops in Ujjain will be permitted to open between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., according to district collector Ashish Singh.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh reported the largest single-day increase of 11,269 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 3,95,832, with 66 deaths and 6,497 people discharged, according to an official.

Now the death toll in MP is 4,491 and the recovery count is 3,27,452, leaving it with a caseload of 63,889 active cases.