Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed hope that his government will be able to bring the Covid-19 crisis in Indore city under control by following the ‘Bhilwara model’ of infection containment.
In an e-mail interview to PTI, Chouhan said his government was also adopting the ‘IITT’ formula – of identification, isolation, testing and treatment – to deal with the coronavirus outbreak in the state’s industrial hub.
“We have decided to adopt the Bhilwara model to tackle the coronavirus situation in the city. We are trying to ascertain the health status of all residents of Indore. For this, we are going to conduct screening of every citizen of Indore,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of lifting curfew or lockdown in Indore after May 3, Chouhan said a suitable decision would be taken in the interest of the city after looking at the situation.
“A decision to lift the lockdown can be taken when the risk of coronavirus infection in Indore starts decreasing, when the number of infected persons starts coming down and the situation seems to be under control,” the chief minister said.
He also said that the reason for high death rate in the city is that people who came to Indore from abroad hid information about their foreign travel due to lack of awareness, insecurity and fear. These people infected others unknowingly, and the epidemic spread in the city, he said.
“A large number of patients among those who succumbed to coronavirus had other serious illnesses. Such patients were brought late to hospital,” said Chouhan.
Indore, having a population of more than 30 lakh, has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot, not just in the state but in the entire country. As many as 31 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Indore on Sunday, taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 1,207.
News agency ANI quoted Indore’s Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia as saying that 60 deaths have been reported in the district due to the virus. Indore’s Covid-19 death rate of 4.85 per cent is higher than the national average, according to data analysis.
According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Madhya Pradesh has 2,096 COVID-19 cases, including 210 cured/discharged/migrated and 99 deaths.
