Active COVID-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh may reach 1 lakh by April end: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Bhopal, Apr 10: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state might reach one lakh by the end of this month given the spike in infection count. He made the statement while speaking to reporters.

"The way there is a spike in coronavirus infection cases, the number of active cases in Madhya Pradesh may reach one lakh by the end of this month. We will try to stop this in the middle as we have started adopting some measures, including lockdown," he said.

Till Friday night, the number of active cases in Madhya Pradesh was 30,486, while its caseload reached 3,27,220. The state government has decided to open COVID Care Centres in all the districts due to the rise in cases, Chouhan said, adding that in Bhopal and Indore, a team under Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajesh Rajora is looking for buildings, where such facilities could be set up.

The supply of oxygen for medical purposes has been maintained in the state, he added. "Till three days back, 60 metric tonnes of oxygen was supplied everyday. On Friday, 180 MT of oxygen was supplied in the state. We mainly get the supply of oxygen from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and a small amount from Maharashtra. We have also started getting it from Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) steel plant," Chouhan said.

Oxygen should be used judiciously and as per requirement, the chief minister added. Recently, several cities in the state had reported shortage of remdesivir injection that is used in the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Talking about that, Chouhan said, "We have got 2,000 injections (remdesivir) day before yesterday. The state government has decided to purchase one lakh injections and it has started getting them." According to Chouhan, the state government is also making arrangements for the ventilators.

"We will soon get 350 ventilators from the Centre," he said. Chouhan appealed to the people to stay at home and avoid venturing out unnecessarily to help curb the spread of the virus.

"We should adopt appropriate behaviour to protect ourselves from the pandemic...People should help by keeping themselves protected," he said. The CM said he is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting on Saturday with the district crisis management committees to discuss the pandemic situation.