Madhya Pradesh coronavirus cases rise by 43 to 615; death toll 50

Madhya Pradesh on Monday reported 43 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of the affected people in the state to 615, Health department officials said.

At the same time, six more deaths were reported from Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain and Khargone, taking the overall toll to 50 so far.

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During the last 24-hours, Indore reported three deaths due to COVID-19 followed by Bhopal, Ujjain and Khargone each reporting one death, officials said.

All of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection after their deaths, officials said.

Meanwhile, the number of IAS officials from the state Health department to test positive for the viral infection rose to four on Monday with one more bureaucrat testing positive, they added.

Madhya Pradesh has so far tested more than 10,000 samples, said Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Mohammad Suleiman.

Out of the total affected persons, 80 per cent cases are from Indore and Bhopal, which suggests that the viral outbreak remains confined to these two cities.

"We are conducting up to 1050 tests per day and we have decided to ramp up this capacity to 7000 per day. We are trying to rope in private medical colleges and also tapping other facilities in the state to achieve this target," Suleiman said.

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He said a total of 1400 samples have been sent for testing to Delhi in a state government plane with the twin objective of expediting the process and clearing the backlog.

Meanwhile, Indore continues to lead the chart on Monday as well with 22 new cases being detected in the last 24 hours, taking the COVID-19 case tally in the state's commercial hub to 328.

Bhopal has reported three new cases, taking the overall number of the affected people to 142, an official said.

Of the total 50 COVID-19 deaths in Madhya Pradesh, Indore alone accounts for 35 deaths, he said.

Among other cities, Ujjain has so far reported six deaths, followed by four in Bhopal, three in Khargone, and one each in Chhindwara and Dewas.

According to officials, the virus has now expanded its footprint to 23 out of the total 52 districts in the state.

Apart from Indore and Bhopal, Morena district has recorded 14 cases, Jabalpur 10 (with one new case), Ujjain 24 (with 8 new cases), Hoshangabad 15, Khargone 17 (with three new cases), Barwani 14, Raisen 4 (with three new cases) Gwalior 6, Khandwa 5, Dewas 4, Sheopur 3 (with one new case) Vidisha 13, Chhindwara 4 (with two new cases) Satna, Dhar (with one new case) and Shivpuri two. Betul, Shajapur, Sagar, Mandsaur and Ratlam have reported one case each.

One of the patients under treatment hailed from another state.

So far 51 patients have recovered from COVID-19 and returned home, the officials said.