Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said that in the third wave of Covid-19, cases have increased in the past few days especially in the districts adjoining the NCR-Gurugram, Rewari, Faridabad, Rohtak, Sonipat and Hisar and to contain the surge, the State Government has decided to limit the number of persons allowed at social gatherings like marriages, political or religious functions etc to maximum 50 for indoor and 100 for outdoor events.
However, in the remaining districts of the State, the gathering has been limited to 100 persons for indoor functions and 200 persons for the outdoor. These orders will be effective from November 26, Khattar added.
Talking to media persons after attending video conferencing meeting of Chief Ministers of eight States on Covid-19 situation presided over by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister ruled out night curfew in the State and said that the situation of Covid-19 in Haryana remained satisfactory in the first and second phase. However, in the third wave of Covid-19, spurt in a number of cases have been registered in the past few days in NCR districts.
He said that keeping in view the thick movement of people in the NCR, the State Government has ramped up testing in NCR areas so that people found positive could be isolated to keep a check on the further spread of infection.
While referring to various steps being taken by the State Government to effectively combat the Covid-19 situation, he said that testing in Haryana has reached 1.24 lakh per million which is much more than the national average of 80,000 per million. Khattar said that at present, 32,000 tests per day are being conducted in the State which would be further increased in the coming days. Apart from this, special emphasis is being given on the contact tracing of positive Covid-19 cases.
The Chief Minister said that at present, the number of positive cases in the State is 6.86 per cent and fatal rate is only 1 per cent. Efforts are being made to further reduce the fatal rate to below one per cent, he added.
Khattar said that people in the State are being encouraged to wear masks and maintain social distancing. He said that in the same series, one crore masks would soon be distributed in the State. The Department of Police and Urban Local Bodies have been directed to strictly enforce the wearing of masks and issue challan to the offenders. A fine of Rs 500 will be imposed on those who are found without masks, he added.
He said that the State Government is fully geared up to deal with any eventuality in wake of the Covid-19 situation and has further strengthened its hospital infrastructure. An arrangement of 57,000 beds has been made in different hospitals of the State which is sufficient keeping in view the number of cases. Also, sufficient number of oxygen cylinders, ventilators, ICU beds etc is also available in the State. He said that the State Government has further strengthened the home isolation care of Covid-19 patients so that they could be provided treatment facilities at their homes.