The total number of Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh reached 2,096 on Sunday, according to Union health ministry data. Ninety nine people have died of the disease in the state, according to the health ministry.

Indore continues to be the hotspot in Madhya Pradesh; 56 fresh cases were reported in the city till Saturday afternoon. More than 100 people tested positive for the disease in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Indore, the worst affected district, alone accounts for 57 deaths.

Indore has the highest tally of Covid-19 cases at 1,085 followed by Bhopal (388) and Ujjain (103). A month ago, there was not a single Covid-19 case in Indore.

“We feel the virus is more virulent in the Indore belt. We have sought help from the National Institute of Virology in Pune. They have agreed to study the virus from culture at other places and compare it by extraction of virus genome,” Jyoti Bindal, Dean of Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, told news agency IANS.

The Inter-ministerial Central Team (IMCT), which has been in Indore since April 22 to monitor the efforts to combat coronavirus, asked the state administration to identify the hotspots in the city and draw up a special plan for places where 10 or more positive patients have been found.

The number of coronavirus cases in Jabalpur has now climbed to 43. Hoshangabad has 30 cases, Khandwa 36 and Chhindwara five.

The number of cases in other districts is: Barwani 24, Raisen 26, Morena and Vidisha 13 each, Ratlam 12, Mandsaur eight, Shajapur six, Sagar five, four each in Gwalior and Sheopur, three in Alirajpur, two each in Shivpuri and Tikamgarh and one each in Betul and Dindori, according to state health officials.

So far, 210 patients have recovered and returned home.