MP Police arrests people involved in attack on Covid warriors in Sheopur; to invoke NSA

Madhya Pradesh police on Wednesday said that the persons involved in attacking a team of health staff and police in Sheopur district have been arrested and the National Security Act (NSA) will be invoked against the main accused. A team of health staff and police were attacked by family members of a person, who entered the district from outside on Wednesday.

'NSA will be invoked against the main accused'

"The accused have been arrested and the NSA will be invoked against the main accused. Health team conducts screening of anyone who comes to the district from outside, according to protocol. Strict action will be taken against those who do not cooperate," Sheopur Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sampat Upadhyay said while speaking to news agency ANI.

The team went to screen a man named Gopal, who had recently come to his house in Gaswani village in the district from Indore. When the health staff asked his father Gangaram Shivhari to summon Gopal for testing, he refused to call him and started misbehaving with the team. Team leader Dr Pawan then rang up Gaswani Police station for help. After the police reached the spot, the family members started pelting stones at the team, during which a police official sustained a head injury.

"I got a call from Dr Pawan. He told me that they have come for the screening of a person and family members were misbehaving with them. We reached the spot and tried to make the people understand that it was for their betterment. They started shouting at us and pelted stones," said Shriram Awasthi, ASI.

The Coronavirus crisis

Meanwhile, 52 new Coronavirus cases were reported as of 5:00 PM on April 22 in MP, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This brings the total reported cases of COVID-19 in the state to 1,592. Among the total people infected as on date, 148 have recovered and 80 have passed away.

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The countrywide COVID-19 death toll rose to 652 and the number of cases to 20,471 on Wednesday, an increase of 49 fatalities and 1,486 cases since Tuesday evening, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 15,859, while 3,959 people have been cured and discharged, the ministry said, adding that one patient has migrated.

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Thus, over 19% of the cases have recovered so far, a health ministry official said. The total number of cases includes 77 foreign nationals who were tested positive in India.

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(With agency inputs)