Madhya Pradesh govt advises week-long quarantine to passengers from Maharashtra

Bhopal, Mar 15: In view of a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Madhya Pradesh government has issued new guidelines and said people coming to districts which share border with Maharashtra should be identified and advised a week-long quarantine.

Madhya Pradesh''s eight districts - Chhindwara, Balaghat, Betul, Seoni, Khandwa, Barwani, Khargone and Burhanpur - shared border with Maharashtra.

"Passengers coming to the border districts from Maharashtra should be identified and they should be advised a week-long necessary quarantine. This provision should be publicised widely," as per the guidelines issued by MP''s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Dr Rajesh Rajora on Sunday evening.

The state government also directed for 50 per cent attendance (maximum 200 people) in closed halls during any programme by following protocols in the districts bordering Maharashtra as well as in the MP capital Bhopal and industrial hub Indore.

The COVID-19 prevention protocols should be widely publicised in districts like Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ratlam, Gwalior, Balaghat, Seoni, Betul, Chhindwara, Khandwa, Khargone, Barwani, Burhanpur and Ujjain, where a spurt in fresh cases was reported, the order said.

Thermal screening should be compulsorily done of people coming to Madhya Pradesh''s districts which share their border with Maharashtra, it said.

The government directed people to observe social distancing by creating boundary with the help of ropes and drawing circles in front of shops, and to compulsorily wear masks as a precautionary measure.

It also directed district crisis management committees to hold meetings and review the situation to check the spurt in COVID-19 cases.

Madhya Pradesh on Sunday reported 743 fresh cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count to 2,68,594.

The state has so far reported 3,887 deaths due to COVID-19, as per official figures.

Maharashtra on Sunday recorded this year''s highest one-day spike of 16,620 new COVID-19 cases, pushed the state''s overall caseload to 23,14,413, according to the state health department.