To underline Covid message, Shivraj Singh Chouhan hits the road with white paint, masks

THE BUSTLING New Market space of Bhopal had an uncommon customer final week — Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. What he introduced alongside was uncommon, too — not a buying bag, however white paint and masks.
Chouhan’s look was a part of a transfer to advertise the ‘Mera Mask, Meri Suraksha’ initiative to fight the spurt of Covid instances in Madhya Pradesh. On March 23, the Chief Minister launched the statewide marketing campaign by visiting crowded locations, distributing masks to folks, and utilizing the paint to attract distancing circles outdoors outlets.
On Saturday, he requested folks to comply with Covid-appropriate behaviour and have fun festivals with their households inside their houses. He additionally assured that the Covid-affected amongst marginalised sections can be handled freed from price in authorities hospitals.

In the throes of a second wave, the positivity ratio of the state has touched 9.9 per cent with an total tally of two,91,006 instances to date. Within a month, reported optimistic instances grew from 363 on March 1 to 2,323 on March 29.
The state has reported a complete of three,967 deaths to date with the best (957) toll in Indore adopted by 630 in Bhopal. Indore and Bhopal have additionally been reporting the best variety of day by day instances with Monday’s tally at 609 and 469, respectively.
A staff of medical specialists, headed by Sujeet Singh, Director of National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC), has already visited the state and held a day-long assembly with state officers. Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh stated: “All cases of reinfection, and those turning positive post-vaccination, will be monitored closely and samples sent for genome decoding.”
Madhya Pradesh can also be coping with at the least two recognized variants of the virus that had been reported in 11 instances to date in districts of Bhopal and Indore. And authorities hospitals have been requested to order 40 per cent beds for Covid sufferers whereas surgical procedures have been postponed.
Amid this, the masks marketing campaign focuses on creating consciousness and sustaining the life-style adopted through the Covid lockdown.
According to officers, the necessity for the Chief Minister himself to step out arose after it was seen that folks had stopped following Covid pointers. “During the unlocking, when normalcy returned, we realised there was zero adherence to wearing a mask even in urban areas…the situation was far worse in rural areas,” a senior official from the Health division stated.
Since then, the state has witnessed a slew of measures to create consciousness. Several ministers, together with Home Minister Narottam Mishra, have begun visiting crowded locations in Bhopal urging residents to masks up. At least 34 bureaucrats, together with deputy secretaries, principal secretaries and extra chief secretaries, had been allotted particular areas throughout the metropolis to distribute masks.
So a lot so, that Indore MLA Akash Vijayvargiya even positioned a newspaper advert, saying he has “spent three lakhs on ads… only to create awareness among citizens to wear masks”.
The Chief Minister, in the meantime, additionally wrote to Leader of Opposition Kamal Nath and others searching for their cooperation.
However, the Congress has criticised the initiative with state spokesperson Narendra Saluja calling it a “farce”. “The two visits of the Chief Minister, in Bhopal and Indore, led to more overcrowding. His visits are leading to flouting of social distancing norms…it has been a year into the pandemic and people are used to wearing masks,” Saluja stated.

Police are, in the meantime, stepping up their vigil. In Ujjain district, these discovered with out masks are despatched to open jails for an hour and allowed to depart solely after they buy a masks made by a self-help group.
In Betul district, nonetheless, SP Shimla Prasad has put up “selfie points” at vital places, encouraging folks to click on a selfie carrying their masks and put up it on-line.