COVID-19 | Bhopal records first death

Five Health Department officials test positive.

Medicos examining a policeman for COVID-19 in Bhopal on April 4, 2020.

Bhopal registered its first

COVID-19 -related death on April 6 morning after a man succumbed to the illness while undergoing treatment at a hospital.

“He tested positive on April 5 and was admitted to a private hospital earlier,” said Sudhir Dehariya, Bhopal Chief Medical and Health Officer.

In addition, five officials of the Health Department tested positive for the disease on the day. They were already confined in quarantine, he added. With this, the city’s tally touched 45.

On Sunday, the city recorded 23 new cases, the steepest increase in a single day. It even surpassed the increase in the count for Indore on the day, which recorded 22 new cases, registering an overall count of 135 cases.

Two patients, including Bhopal's first case , have been cured and discharged.

In a bid to contain the spread, Bhopal Collector Tarun Kumar Pithode on Sunday formed 12 new containment areas in the city, and cordoned them off to restrict traffic and block exit points. This takes the number of such areas to 23 in the city.

Furthermore, the residences of the patients were declared “epicentres”, with residents of 50 houses around them asked to use personal protective equipment.

From Monday, a total lockdown had been imposed in Bhopal, prompting residents to procure provisions on Sunday night.

So far, Morena has recorded 12 cases, Jabalpur eight, Ujjain seven, Barwani three, Khargone four and Gwalior, Shivpuri and Chhindwara two each. As many as 14 persons have succumbed to the infection in Madhya Pradesh , which has recorded 220 cases.