In view of the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in the State, Haryana Government on Wednesday ordered to restrict the strength of employees to 50 per cent in Government offices. The State Government issued certain preventive measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 with immediate effect, till January 20.
As per the preventative measures, physical attendance of Government servants below the level of Under Secretary shall be restricted to 50 per cent of the actual strength and the remaining 50 per cent shall work from home. A roster will be prepared accordingly by all the departments concerned.
However, all officers of the level of Under Secretary, equivalent and above will attend office on a regular basis. Apart from this, meetings, as far as possible, shall be conducted on video-conferencing and personal meetings with visitors, unless absolutely necessary in the public interest will be avoided. The entry of visitors to the government office has also been ordered to be curbed appropriately.
Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Wednesday issued an order in this regard to Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Commissioners of all Divisions, Deputy Commissioners, Managing Directors/Chief Administrators of Boards/Corporations and Registrars of all the Universities in Haryana.
As per the order, persons with disabilities and pregnant women employees shall be exempted from attending office but are required to work from home. To avoid the rush in commuting and lifts and corridors, all officers who attend office shall stagger entry and exit timings that is spreading entry time to the office between 9:00 am - 10:00 am and corresponding exit time. The Head of Departments have been directed to take care of this aspect.
HARYANA REPORTS 1,132 NEW CASES, 2 DEATHS
In a major spike in Covid-19 cases, Haryana on Tuesday reported two fatalities and 1,132 new infections recording a positivity rate of 3.77 per cent. The State had a day before reported 793 Covid-19 cases. Among 1,132 new cases, a highest of 634 infections were reported in the worst affected district Gurugram while Faridabad reported 141 cases. Panchkula, Ambala, Karnal and Sonepat reported 94, 69, 44, 33 fresh cases respectively, according to the state’s health bulletin.
No new case was reported in Nuh and Charkhi Dadri districts on Tuesday. One fatality each was reported in Panchkula and Kaithal districts taking the COVID death toll to 10,066 in the state, the bulletin stated. The number of active Coronavirus cases in the state has jumped to 4036. The state has so far reported 71 Omicron cases and among them 10 are active cases. According to the bulletin, Haryana reported a cumulative positivity rate of 5.28 percent. 201 people recovered from the virus on Tuesday and the COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 98.18 per cent.
HIMACHAL REPORTS 260 FRESH INFECTIONS
Neighbouring State of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday reported 260 fresh Covid cases. The highest number of 104 cases were reported in Kangra district followed by 32 cases in Shimla, as per the state’s health bulletin. The number of active cases in the state stood at 859 including 327 in Kangra, 128 in Shimla, 49 in Hamirpur 45 in Bilaspur among other cases, the bulletin stated. 22 patients recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours. The death toll due to Covid in the State stands at 3862 while the total number of cases are 229413, out of which 224663 have recovered.
128 NEW CASES IN CHANDIGARH, HIGHEST SINGLE DAY SPIKE IN MONTHS
Chandigarh on Tuesday recorded its highest single-day spike over the last many months as 128 fresh Covid-19 cases were recorded, taking the total number of active cases in the City to 500, according to the UT medical bulletin. Eleven patients were cured of the disease in the past 24 hours. A positivity rate of 9.07 per cent was recorded as 1412 samples were tested. A positivity rate of 4.80 per cent was recorded in the last seven days with an average number of 67 cases, it stated.