To encourage Covid-19-appropriate behaviour among people of the State, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday directed the officers concerned to provide at least five free masks to those found without face cover in public and also start the drive of imposing a fine on those who are found without masks. Besides this, proactive strategies should be made to effectively combat the spread of the virus in the State.
“Though vaccination for COVID-19 has been rolled out but still we should religiously follow all the guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing to stay safe and to ensure containment of virus spread,” Khattar said while presiding over a review meeting regarding COVID-19 held with Administrative Secretaries here.
During the meeting, he directed officers to ramp up COVID-19 management preparations coupled with aggressive surveillance, stringent containment, swift contact tracing, focused clinical management along with proactive Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities. “Radio jingles, publicity campaigns regarding COVID-19 guidelines like wearing masks, sanitizing hands and social distancing should be followed meticulously. Besides this, physical checking of the industries and enforcement of COVID precautions and guidelines at public places like malls, eating joints, bus stands, schools, colleges etc should also be done regularly. The sanitization system should be also strengthened at these places along with the distribution of masks,” directed the Chief Minister.
“Re-enforcement of COVID guidelines through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Local Bodies and Police Department should be done vigorously along with the acceleration of the vaccination drive,’’ he directed.
During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Rajeev Arora apprised the Chief Minister that on an average 15,000 to 18,000 daily COVID tests are being conducted in Haryana. The test positivity rate on a weekly basis is less than one per cent. At present, there are 1205 active COVID cases in Haryana. More RTPCR tests are being conducted as compared to Antigen, said Arora.
HEALTH MINISTER LAUNCHES THIRD PHASE OF COVID-19 VACCINATION
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday launched the third phase of COVID-19 Vaccination saying the vaccine will be administered in 386 private hospitals empanelled under Government hospitals and Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
The COVID-19 vaccine will be administered free of cost in all government hospitals of the state, while its cost will be Rs 250 in the said private hospitals.
The beneficiaries for the third phase of the COVID-19 Vaccine Roll Out will be people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with co-morbidities.
Vij said the cost of Rs 250 includes Rs 150 as charges for the vaccine and Rs 100 as service charges of private hospitals. He added that the vaccine will be administered to people above the age of 60 years and those above the age of 45 years who are suffering from serious ailments like diabetes, heart problems etc (comorbidities).
The Health Minister also addressed all Civil Surgeons, Directors of all private hospitals on the panel through video-conferencing and directed the Civil Surgeons to carefully monitor the maintenance of cold chains in all hospitals. Besides this, he asked them to ensure that the private hospitals are adhering to the price fixed for the vaccine by the Central Government and these hospitals refrain from overcharging so that the beneficiaries are administered the vaccine on time at the prescribed rate.
Vij urged all Civil Surgeons to organise special campaigns so that maximum people can take its benefit. Furthermore, he suggested the officials concerned to consider setting up additional vaccination centres other than the existing ones so that these centres are in close proximity to the homes of the beneficiaries of the third phase and they do not hesitate to get the vaccine administered.
He said that so far 70 per cent of the Health Workers have been vaccinated in the first phase of COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout and more than 50 per cent of the Frontline Workers have been vaccinated in the second phase. Along with this, the Frontline Workers like employees of the Urban Local Bodies, Sanitation Workers, Police Personnel, Civil Defence Workers, Jail Staff, Panchayati Raj Institutions and staff of Revenue Department are being administered the vaccine.