To further expand the coverage of the ongoing Covid vaccination drive, the Punjab Government is providing vaccination facilities on all 7 days a week, there will be an increase in the number of session sites, and any identity proof will be considered as valid documents for inoculating the eligible person in the State.
This was done to effectively contain the further spread of the sudden surge in daily new Covid cases in the state for the past several days.
A decision to this effect was taken at a virtual meeting, chaired by the Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, to review the Covid situation and status of the ongoing vaccination drive, here on Saturday. She directed all the concerned departments to ramp up the pace of the ongoing vaccination drive to cover the maximum population and save the precious human lives from the pandemic. She also asserted to strictly enforce the Covid appropriate behaviour among the masses.
The Chief Secretary said besides increasing the number of vaccination centres, the Government is running an inoculation drive on all 7 days of the week.
Referring to the recent approval by the Union Government to also vaccinate all persons above 45 years of age from April 1, Mahajan asked the Health and other departments concerned to rope in more private facilities for increasing the ambit of the ongoing vaccination drive.
Besides continuing vaccination at private and government facilities, the Chief Secretary also directed the Health department to hold special vaccination camps to cover the maximum citizens at their doorsteps.
“All arrangements should be in place till March 31 before starting the inoculation drive for all persons above 45 years of age from April 1 so that there remains no hitch at the last moment,” said Mahajan, while instructing the Health department to target the eligible vulnerable sections of the society like journalists, shopkeepers, government employees, especially those who were engaged in public dealing, first for Covid jab.
The Chief Secretary asked the Medical Education and Research department to ensure that Covid test result report should reach the concerned person within 15 hours as earlier detection will help to effectively contain the spread of the virus.
She also directed the Health department to ensure 100 per cent testing in the micro-containment zones.
Acting swiftly on the directions, Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare, Hussan Lal, said any photo identity card will be valid for vaccination, and there was no need to insist on a particular identity proof.
Participating in the meeting, the Director General of Police (DGP), Mr Dinkar Gupta, said the state police were on its toes to curtail the spread of virus and as many as 90,363 face mask violators have been taken for Covid testing in the state so far. In a week, more than 18,500 violators were issued challans for not wearing masks. The special enforcement drive was started on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on March 19.
2,820 COVID-19 CASES, 46 DEATHS IN PUNJAB
Punjab on Saturday reported 2820 Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 228,864, while 46 more people died due to the infection.
According to a medical bulletin, 46 fatalities in the State took the death toll to 6,621.
The number of active Covid-19 cases increased to 23271, it said. Ludhiana reported a maximum of 497 cases, Jalandhar 391, SAS 374 among districts, which witnessed new cases.
The districts which saw deaths included Patiala (8) Jalandhar (5), and Ludhiana (5). A total of 2141 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of those recovered to 1,98,972, the bulletin said.
There are 25 critical patients who are on ventilator support, while 316 are on oxygen support, it said. A total of 58,10694 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, the bulletin said.
