Shivraj Singh Chouhan says ‘corona curfew’ helping stabilise Covid-19 case positivity rate in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said the ‘corona curfew’ imposed in the state had stabilised coronavirus positivity rates.

Madhya Pradesh on Saturday reported 12,918 Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 4,85,703, including 5,041 deaths.

He said the need now was to identify more areas with a high infection rate at the district level.

“The positive effect of janata corona curfew is visible in the state. The positivity rate of the pandemic has been stabilised. There is a need to identify more areas with high infection rate at the district level,” Chouhan said at a meeting of a core group formed to tackle the coronavirus situation in the state.

He said his government was developing a mechanism to control infection at the micro-level by declaring containment zones.

A total of 11,000 people had recovered from the infection during the day, he said, adding that ensuring supply of liquid medical oxygen as per demand amid a surge in cases was his government’s top priority.

The CM said he had spoken to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal who had assured that an oxygen express, a train carrying tankers with liquid medical oxygen, would reach state capital Bhopal from Bokaro via Ranchi in Jharkhand.

Chouhan said the possibility of converting nitrogen tankers into oxygen ones and ferrying them by trains was also being considered.

Speaking about the ramping up of health infrastructure in the state, he said 9,041 isolation beds have been arranged in 155 Covid care centres, and 618 beds with oxygen facilities have been set up in 32 centres statewide.

The core group was also informed that 100 ICU beds will be increased in AIIMS, Bhopal.