Bhopal, Oct 14 (IANS): The ongoing corona pandemic is gradually on the decline in Madhya Pradesh with the recovery rate at 88 per cent. People's lives are slowly returning to normal with more crowds in the markets. The number of Covid-19 infected patients in the state stands at nearly 1.5 lakh while 2,671 persons have died till now.

There has been a decrease of 37 per cent in fresh coronavirus cases in the state for the last three weeks. The state's recovery rate has gone up to 88.4 per cent. The number of active cases which was above 20,000 has now come down to 14,932. The death rate stands at 1.78 per cent.

On the health facilities available in the state, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said adequate beds and oxygen were available in corona hospitals across all districts. Emphasising on the need to be cautious, Chouhan added that special Covid-19 precautions will have to be followed during the festivals especially with the onset of winter.

Along with the decrease in the number of corona patients, most new cases have emerged from Indore and Bhopal districts. In the last 24 hours, 418 new cases have been recorded in Indore and 213 in Bhopal.

Home isolation facility is also being provided to the corona patients. State Additional Health Chief Secretary Mohammed Suleman said 55 per cent of the corona patients in the state were in home quarantine while the rest 45 per cent were admitted in hospitals. Patients living in home isolation were continuously monitored by the Control and Command Centre set up in every district.

The state government has taken several precautionary measures such as closing schools for classes 1 to 8 till November 15 while classes from Std 9 to 12 have partially commenced.