Come January 1, 2022, unvaccinated people against Covid-19 will not be allowed entry in restaurants, malls, banks, religious places, government offices, public transport among other places of public gatherings in Haryana.
The State Government on Wednesday issued an order in this regard and directed all Deputy Commissioners to constitute teams to ensure that only those who receive both
doses of COVID-19 vaccine are allowed entry at places of public gatherings.
According to the order, only fully vaccinated people will be allowed entry at places like restaurants, bars, hotels, grain markets, departmental stories, liquor and wine shops, malls, shopping complexes, cinema halls, religious places, ration shops, petrol and CNG stations, local markets, private and government sector banks, parks, gyms, bus stand, railway station, among other places of public gatherings from January 1, 2022 onwards.
Apart from this, Covid-19 vaccination certificate will be mandatory for students (more than 18 years) of Colleges/Polytechnics. Also, no individual including government servants will be allowed to visit government offices without being fully vaccinated, the order stated.
Home-cum-Health Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday informed the State Assembly, “In a bid to boost vaccine coverage, the State Government has decided that from January 1, 2022, those who have not got both doses of Covid-19 vaccine will not be permitted to enter congested areas like restaurants, malls, banks, offices and others.”
Vij was responding to a calling attention motion in the State Assembly regarding steps to curb spread of Omicron, a new variant of Covid-19 in Haryana.
Around 93 percent of the eligible population have got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 59 percent have got both doses of the vaccine in the state. Gurugram has inoculated 100 percent eligible people with both doses of vaccine.
Vij said that till December 19, a total of 3,11,86,292 doses have been given, out of which the first dose include 1,91,10,472 (93 percent of eligible population) and the second dose include 1,20,75,820 (covering 59 percent eligible population).
The Minister said that six cases of persons from Haryana have been found infected with Omicron variant. Three are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Faridabad while three international travelers were found Covid-19 positive at Delhi Airport and are under treatment in the national capital.
During the debate on the issue, the Congress legislators Kiran Choudhry asked the government about plans to give booster dose in the state while INLD’s Abhay Chautala raised the issue of the large number of vacancies of doctors and para medical staff in healthcare institutions.
Several Congress legislators also spoke about the incidents of deaths due to lack of medical oxygen, shortage of hospital beds, medicines during the second wave of Covid-19 in Haryana,
Responding to this, Vij said that till now, no decision has been taken by the Central Government regarding the booster dose of Covid vaccine. 980 doctors will be recruited soon and the paramedical staff will also join in the next 15 to 20 days in the state, he said.
The Minister also said that he had got conducted a survey in which 30 percent patients were found to be from outside Haryana during the second wave of Covid-19. To deal with the third wave, the government has an experience of dealing with two waves and during the second wave, single-day cases had crossed 15,000, he added.
About the government’s preparedness to deal with the third wave, Vij informed the House that the government is identifying those hospitals which can be utilised in any emergency situations. Adequate stock of medicines, isolation beds, oxygen equipped beds, ICU beds and ventilators are available with the State Government for the treatment of Covid patients, he said.
All the SPs and Commissioners of Police have been directed that those who are not wearing masks should be fined with Rs 500 and DCs have also been asked to conduct random checking at social gatherings or events, he added.
About the vaccine coverage in districts, Vij informed that in Gurugram, coverage of first dose is 129 percent and second dose is 101 percent. Outsiders have also been included thus the coverage is more than 100 percent in Gurugram, he informed
Only 64 percent have got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Nuh district, he said while urging the concerned MLA to motivate people in the constituency to get vaccinated.
The Health Minister further informed the House that so far, 28 people of the Health Department have lost their lives due to Covid and dependents of 27 people have been given compensation of Rs 50 lakh.
Compensation is being provided by the government to the families of those who died due to Covid, under which an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50,000 is given to affected families in Haryana, Rs 2 lakh for BPL card holders in the age group of 18-50 years, for employees special ex-gratia grant of Rs 5 lakh (regular/contract/ad hoc/outsourcing etc) is being given, Vij added.
Till date, 10,062 people have died due to Covid-19 in Haryana.