Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday directed all the Deputy Commissioners of the state to focus on contact tracing especially in the rural areas keeping in view the abrupt spike in the COVID-19 cases.
“The State Government would soon consider to impose further restrictions to check further spread of the virus,” said the Chief Minister while presiding over a video conferencing with Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police to review the Covid-19 situation.
The state reported 297 fresh cases on Thursday
The Chief Minister said that there are around 2700 active cases of Coronavirus in the State and it is a matter of concern that the cases have increased in a very short period. Most of the cases had been reported from the rural areas whereas there were very less cases in the urban areas including major tourist places which indicates that there had been no impact of tourist flow to different parts of the state, he added.
Thakur said that social gatherings, marriage functions, feasts etc. were the main reasons behind the spread of this pandemic. The Chief Minister said that there are adequate oxygenated general beds, oxygen concentrators, testing kits and ventilators and the work on setting up of 28 additional PSA plants is in progress.
The work on eight PSA plants had already been completed and ten more PSA plants would be completed by August 31, he said. Thakur directed the district administration of Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Chamba and Kinnaur to make provision for testing of labourers keeping in view the ongoing apple season in various parts of these districts.