Night curfew ordered in this state amid Omicron scare

While Madhya Pradesh hasn't registered any cases of the Omicron variant yet, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has decided to tighten precautionary protocol by announcing that night curfew will be reinforced in the state. The curfew timings in MP will be from 11 pm to 5 am.

In a public address on Thursday (December 23), CM Chouhan noted that MP had reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 after a long time. He reportedly said, “On Wednesday, the country logged 7,495 cases. The alarming thing is that most cases are from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi.

CM Chouhan said that the surge in the state will correspond to this surge, urging people to abide by the COVID-appropriate behaviour. 

Night curfew in MP follows the centre’s advisory to states earlier in the day. The Modi government advised states to enforce restrictions and containment measures ahead of the upcoming festive week in order to maintain preparedness amid the rising Omicron cases in India.

The centre asked states to put in place the local containment measures by the district and local administration when either the test positivity increases beyond 10% or occupancy of oxygenated beds increases beyond 40%.

The centre has advised the states to follow a five-fold strategy of Containment, Testing & Surveillance, Clinical Management, Covid Safe Behaviour and Vaccination.

Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally crossed the 300-mark on Thursday, with Maharashtra and Delhi reporting the most cases at 65 and 64 respectively.