UNDERLINES THE NEED TO INTENSIFY COVID TESTING IN WAKE OF COMING FESTIVE SEASON
CHANDIGARH: In view of the considerable improvement in the Covid situation across the State, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday ordered relaxation in restrictions from 150 to 300 on indoor and 300 to 500 on outdoor gatherings in the State. He however, said that the Covid protocol restrictions would be adhered to strictly despite these relaxations.
While reviewing the Covid position in the State, the Chief Minister also asked the School Education Department to encourage the students to attend classes by following the necessary health protocols. Likewise, he also asked the Social Security, Women and Child Development department to reopen anganwari centres while strictly following the prescribed Covid safety norms.
Expressing satisfaction over the decline in positivity rate of Covid cases, the Chief Minister also asked the Health department to ensure strict compliance to Covid safety protocols including wearing of mask and social distancing. He also asked the Health department to ramp up the testing capacity upto 50000 per day as a precautionary measure in view of the coming festive season.
While making a brief presentation on the current Covid scenario, the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Mr. Alok Shekhar said that the 232 cases were reported during last week with an average of 33 positive cases per day. He further informed that from September 14 to 20 only a single case of Mucormycosis was reported, whereas, no new case was reported thereafter.
The Principal Secretary Health also apprised the Chief Minister that the Covid situation in the state was stable and at present 25,000 to 30,000 Covid tests were being done daily with a special focus on the students.
Giving an account of population covered for Covid vaccination across the state, Mr. Shekhar informed the Chief Minister that 91 percent of population above 60 years, 77 percent of 45-59 and 57 percent of 18-44 years was covered for the first dose of COVID vaccination. He said that the state at present has availability of 218895 doses of Covaxin and 261860 doses of Covishield.