New Delhi, Mar 31 (IANS): Amid lockdown when even Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded efforts for sanitation workers to tackle the COVID-19 scare, the Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel along with his son reached Bhopal to voluntarily sanitise the streets.

Patel accompanied by his son Prabhal Singh Patel realised that there was shortage of sanitation workers in the area and hence decided to help in.

"I always wanted to help in some ways, but then my father told me there was a space for manpower in sanitation. We applied with the DM's office to volunteer and once it was approved me and my father went with the workers," Prabal Patel told IANS.

The two not only spoke to residents and sanitation workers regarding the problems faced by them, but also sanitised roads and did fogging in an area of Bhopal.

In a video shared on Twitter, Patel and his son are seen carrying fogging machine and sanitising entry doors of a government residential complex in Madhya Pradesh's capital.

Patel then also went to hospitals and other institutions to check on health care facilities in the city.

The total number of coronavirus positive cases in India has reached 1,071 on Monday, including the foreign nationals, with 942 active cases, the Union Health Ministry said.

The Health Ministry said in the 10.30 a.m. update that 29 deaths have been reported in India so far, with highest eight from Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat, having five reported deaths.

"A total of 100 patients have been cured and discharged," the Health Ministry said.