Madhya Pradesh breathes easy on corona

On day five since the outbreak and subsequent lockdown, Madhya Pradesh has had a mixed luck on coronavirus on Sunday, officials said on Monday.

Though the number of cases rose steadily there were encouraging reports about at least seven patients in Jabalpur recovering from infection after they tested positive on return from Dubai almost a week ago.

Five patients tested positive overnight to send the figure shooting to 39 on Sunday Jabalpur, the cultural capital and Indore, the commercial capital of the state have borne the brunt of infections so far.

On Sunday, a 36-year-old woman's death in Jabalpur was initially attributed to the virus. The evening bulletin clarified the death was caused by other reasons.

A 17-year-girl from Ujjain besides four men aged 21, 38, 40 and 48 from Indore were suspected to have been affected by the virus according to a bulletin issued on Sunday. The girl was being treated at a hospital in Ujjain while the four men were being given medical care at Indore.

Indore has been placed among the high-risk towns of the state. The government has transferred Indore collector Mukesh Jatav and posted him secretary in the state secretariat in Bhopal. Manish Singh has replaced him. Ruchivardhan Mishra, the Deputy Inspector General of Police for Indore, has also been replaced. Her failure to control the crowding during curfew is ostensible reason for the transfer. She has been replaced by Harinarayan Chari.

Mishra had come down upon senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya and his legislator son Akash during instances of violence on their part some months ago.

In Indore, the number of the infected has gone up to 24. A BSF officer was found infected in Gwalior on Saturday. Eight cases have been reported in Jabalpur, 3 in Bhopal, 2 in Gwalior and 2 in Shivpuri.

Corona Health Bulletin on Sunday reported 338 samples taken for testing so far in the state. Of these 264 were found negative. Besides another 125 were isolated in hospital, while 1060 suspects have been isolated at their homes. The state portal on Corona said 8670 cases have additionally been put under surveillance.

The worst-hit are the daily wage workers. There is a massive reverse migration of labourers since the 21-day restriction on public movement were announced last Sunday.

Workers from Nagpur, Gondia, Ahmedabad and Surat are returning to their homes on foot. A group of laborers from Nagpur and Ahmedabad, Surat on the Maharashtra border bordering Betul and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh are forced to return home after travelling 200 km on foot. At the same time, workers are coming on foot from UP via Gwalior. On Saturday, a labourer died due to sheer exhaustion near Agra while returning to Morena.

Mukesh, Sandeep and Surendra, labourers from Tikamgarh who have been stranded in Delhi called up a help centre seeking help to reach Tikamgarh. They were told to stay put in Delhi and food was arranged for them through Delhi administration.

A person infected with the virus, who was admitted for treatment fled the government hospital in Indore on Saturday. He was, however, later caught and re-admitted.

In another incident reported from Chhattisgah, a sub inspector Amita Agnihotri, posted at Gaurihar police station here, caught one of labourers returning from and wrote on his forehead 'I have violated lock down, stay away from me'.

Her attempt to shame a citizen did not impress her superiors. She was taken off field duty and attached to the police lines. IANS