In a partial clampdown in the wake of coronavirus scare, Punjab Government on Thursday announced to take off road, as a temporary preventive measure, its public transport services, including buses, auto rickshaws, from Friday midnight, banning dining in restaurants, hotels and dhabas, besides restricting public gatherings to less than 20, across the State.
The State has also postponed all Board examinations of Classes X and XII till March 31, besides calling off all public dealings in the Government offices with immediate effect.
Already, the State has declared the closure of all educational institutions, shopping complexes, malls, museums, theatres, and local weekly kisan mandis to check the spread of coronavirus.
The decisions were taken during the meeting of Group of Ministers (GoM) taking serious note of the COVID-19 which is spreading its wings in the country, especially after the state recorded it first death. The GoM decided to take stringent actions to prevent the public to move out of their houses without any emergency.
“We have decided to put a ban on plying of all public transport, including Government and private buses, from midnight on March 20,” said the Cabinet Minister Brahm Mohindra folliwng the GoM meeting held to review the emergent situation in view of rise of suspected cases in the State.
“GoM has decided that there is urgent need to prevent people to come out of their houses without any emergency. For this end, we have decided to stop the operation of all public transport (government and private buses) from midnight on March 20 but the taxis and rickshaws have been exempted from the ban,” he said. In another important decision, the GoM has decided to increase the number of isolation wards set at different public, private hospitals and medical institutions and to strengthen the services by ensuring availability of medical and paramedical staff and adequate stock of medicines.
Similarly, routine OPD services in the hospitals have also been postponed but emergency services at all the hospitals and primary health centres (PHCs) will be continued 24X7. The GoM has also decided to close all Dental Colleges and Hospitals with immediate effect till March 31. The classes of first and second year students in Medical Colleges have been postponed while the classes of third and fourth years would be continued.
“Likewise, the classes of first year students in Nursing Colleges have been called off till March 31 but the classes of nursing students from second year onward would be continued,” he said. In case of any eventuality, the students of Medical Colleges in third and fourth year are being given first-hand training sessions to tackle with COVID-19 patients.
“GoM has also decided to restrict the gathering for any function like marriages and funerals up to 20 persons. Organizers of such functions have been advised to adhere to hand washing protocol and proper cleanliness,” he said.
Close on the heels of notification issued by the CBSE, it has also been decided to postpone all the Board examinations of 10th and 12th standard postponed till March 31.
Besides, the GoM has also decided to strictly implement the home quarantine protocol for all the NRIs, passengers who came from any country in last 15 days to remain in isolation at their homes up to 14 days.
It has also been decided to do mandatory stamping with indelible ink of all such NRIs and passengers in a bid to identify them in case they go out. GoM has also generated appeal for all the citizen of the State to keep a check on the movement of any NRIs and passengers came from other countries.