Even as Madhya Pradesh announces a weekend lockdown as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, not everyone appears to be taking the situation seriously. In a video that has since gone viral, an ambulance transporting a COVID-19 positive patient made a pit stop to sample sugarcane juice. A video of the incident shows two PPE clad individuals waiting for their beverage of choice, while a patient appears to be lying within the vehicle.
A video of the shocking incident was posted on Twitter by NDTV's Anurag Dwary, and shows the person with his mask around his chin, standing on the side of the road next to the stall. His colleague sits in the front passenger seat with the door of the parked vehicle propped open.
According to the report, the incident took place in Shahdol district, but it is unclear when exactly the incident occurred. The bystander shooting the video can be heard repeatedly exclaiming over the fact that the PPE-clad individual had stopped while transporting a patient, and was not even wearing a mask initially.
"I don't have corona. I am just transporting the patient. Let me drink," retorts the health worker.
Over the last few days, Madhya Pradesh has seen record number of fresh patients, and presently ranks among the 10 states with the maximum number of COVID-19 cases. From 6 pm on Friday evening, all urban areas of the state will go under lockdown. In conversation with reporters on Thursday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that the lockdown would be in effect till 6 am on Monday morning. During this time, all the urban areas will be completely shut. This is in addition to the lockdown that has also been clamped in 13 districts of the state on Sundays.
