Bhopal, Jan 5 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh registered 594 new Covid-19 cases and one fatality in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 10,534, while the positivity rate jumped to close to one per cent, according to the state government's daily health bulletin on Wednesday.

In view of the rising number of cases, the state government has issued new guidelines, according to which the number of guests at a marriage function should not exceed 200, while at funerals, the number of people should not exceed 50.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has appealed to the people not to organise big events. He has also directed the officials to monitor public places.

The state had registered 308 cases the previous day. The rapid surge in the last 24 hours has pushed the tally of active cases to 1,544 on Wednesday. The active cases on Tuesday were at 774.

The state crossed the 100 mark on December 31 (124 cases) and since then, there has been a rapid increase in daily Covid infections, especially in the districts of Indore and Bhopal. On January 1, the state registered a total of 168 Covid-19 cases, on January 2 (222), on January 3 (308) and on January 4, it reported a total of 594 cases.

The state government imposed a night curfew last week and a 'roko-toko' campaign was initiated to encourage the people to wear masks and to follow mandatory Covid related guidelines across the state. However, the 'roko-toko' campaign was yet to make an impressive change on the ground, as a large number of people could be seen roaming without masks, especially in Bhopal.

Therefore, to enforce Covid protocols, the state government has directed the police to impose a fine of Rs 200 on those found not wearing masks.