Amid the major surge in Covid-19 infections in the state, Haryana Government on Monday decided to test all Kumbh Mela returnees and agitating farmers, fearing that they may turn Covid super spreaders Apart from this, the State Government has decided to vaccinate all agitating farmers sitting on a dharna at state’s border with Delhi from over past four months against the three central farm laws.
These decisions were taken during the meeting of the State Level Covid monitoring Committee held under Home-cum-Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday.In the past few days, Haryana has seen a major surge in infections, with over 6,000 to 7,000 cases being reported on a daily basis.
Vij, while talking to the mediapersons said that all the devotees returning from Kumbh Mela, Haridwar will be tested for Coronavirus at the entry points of Haryana so that the people suffering from the infection can be treated separately.The Health Dept will also take initiative to conduct Corona tests and to administer vaccines to farmers sitting on dharna on borders from Tuesday onwards. For this, first talks will be held with the farmers’ leaders, he said.
Among major decisions taken during the meeting included stopping all elective surgeries, setting up ‘Critical Corona Care Centres’ in all government medical colleges, banning all kinds of fairs, distribution of home isolations kits to infected patients, monitoring of oxygen plants to stop black marketing, sanitization of all cities and villages in the state.
Giving details, the Minister said that in view of the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, elective surgery in Civil Hospitals has been discontinued. COVID-19 test will be conducted for patients going to private and government hospitals with symptoms like cough, cold, sore throat or fever to ensure proper treatment is given to them.
The Urban Local Bodies Department has been given the responsibility of sanitizing all the cities in the state and the Panchayat Department in all the villages, he said.
Ruling out any possibility of imposition of lockdown in the state, Vij said that all industries will remain open and no one needs to leave the state.
When asked about the restrictions on the occasion of Ram Navami, he said that the Director General of Police and other officers have been directed to ensure compliance of COVID-19 safety protocols. A ban has been imposed on the fairs. The police would ensure that for all religious, political, social and family functions, there is indoor gathering of not more than 50 and outdoor gathering of not more than 200 persons.
Whether it is a temple, Gurudwara, Mosque or Church, more than 50 people should not be allowed inside the premises at any given time, he added.
A Corona curfew is already imposed at night from 10 pm to 5 am. For this, Monitoring Committees will be constituted at the district level, Vij said.
For the care of critical patients of Corona, the government has directed all the government medical colleges to set up ‘Critical Corona Care Centres’. Besides, the management of the doctors of AYUSH Department has been given to the Civil Surgeons of the respective districts.
Vij said, “A home isolation kit is being prepared by the Department, which will contain medicines, oximeter, Corona prevention literature and other necessary materials. In every two days, the Ayush doctors will go door to door to check and treat corona patients. There are about 42,000 Corona infected cases at present in the state, of which about 30,000 are in home isolation.”
NO SHORTAGE OF OXYGEN AND REMEDESIVIR
The Minister said that there is no shortage of Oxygen and Remedisvir in the state and Remedesivir is being supplied in sufficient quantity in all the hospitals of the state. He said that 270 MT of oxygen is available in the state, while the state is consuming 60 MT.
Along with this, the police and Drug Controller Administration have been directed to monitor all the oxygen plants in the state so that there is no black marketing of any kind, he added.
It has also been decided that whosoever buys Remedisvir has to show his or her Aadhar card, he added.
He further said that at present, there are 45,086 quarantine beds of which about 89 per cent are vacant, of the 2,131 ICU beds 58 per cent are vacant and of the 1,079 ventilators about 63 per cent are vacant.
50 PERCENT PATIENTS IN NCR REGION
Maintaining that the government is keeping a close vigil on the rising cases in the NCR region, Vij said that 50 percent infected patients are in Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat districts of the state.
People in Delhi are not getting treatment for Corona and they might be coming to Haryana for treatment. We cannot stop anyone from coming to us for treatment, he added
Vij also said that the State Government is totally prepared to deal with the second wave of COVID-19 and required steps are being taken to contain the spread of infection.