Clamping down with stricter curbs amidst massive surge in Covid-19 cases in the State; Punjab Government on Monday extended night curfew by one hour, besides ordering closure of all bars, cinema halls, gyms, spas, coaching centres, sports complexes, with restaurants and hotels to be open only for takeaway and home delivery from Monday to Saturday.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, ordering stricter restrictions beginning from Tuesday, also banned the gatherings of more than 20 persons, including for weddings or cremations, across the State. A prior approval of the District Administration would be required for all gatherings of more than 10 persons, except for cremation.
The new restrictions, which also include closure of all malls, shops and markets on Sunday, coupled with the ones imposed earlier, will remain in effect till April 30, announced the Chief Minister, directing the Police Department to strictly enforce the restrictions, taking support of civil society organizations where needed.
All weekly markets have also been ordered to be shut down. The Chief Minister also directed the Transport Department that the number of people in buses or taxis and autos be restricted to 50 per cent of the capacity.
Capt Amarinder reiterated his appeal to all religious, social, and political leaders to desist from organising large gatherings, encourage vaccination, and motivate people for Covid appropriate behaviour, especially wearing masks and avoiding gatherings.
Guardians of Governance and all ex-servicemen have also been urged to take the lead in ensuring adherence to protocols.
He further said that military hospitals in the cantonments in Punjab had assured the State Government of all possible help to tackle the surge, while private hospitals had already been directed to reserve 75 per cent beds for Covid patients.
While reviewing the situation in private and government hospitals, the Chief Minister directed 75 percent reservation of Level-III facilities for COVID in all private hospitals providing critical COVID care. “No elective surgeries should be conducted in any government or private hospitals till May 15 and all OPD patients must be tested, besides encouraging them to get vaccinated,” he added.
The 104 Helpline shall function 24X7 to provide information on bed availability in government and private hospitals.
Oxygen requirement and availability will be strictly monitored and ensured for both government and private hospitals by a Committee comprising PSIC, Director Industry and PHSC managing director, while private hospitals will be supported in supply of essential medicines such as Remdesivir, Tocilizumab etc, for which PHSC MD shall be the nodal officer. All elective surgeries in medical colleges also stand postponed for now.
The containment or micro-containment strategy was left to the Deputy Commissioners to decide, depending on the situation in their respective zones or areas.
Health Minister Balbir Sidhu informed the meeting that DCs have been given Rs one crore each from SDRF for emergency use.
Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said that the police personnel are being placed at the disposal of the Health Department, along with Education Department personnel including teachers, for more aggressive tracing of contacts of COVID positive persons.
Health Secretary Hussan Lal, in a presentation, said that the state’s positivity rate was static at around 7.8 percent but had shown a quantum jump thereafter, going up to 12.6 percent as of April 15, with Mohali being the worst hit at 36.53 percent. The spike, he said, could be attributed to the new variant, along with people coming back from large gatherings from outside Punjab.
The figure was expected to go up further with more testing, he said, adding that by May 5, the state was projected to report 6,000 cases a day if urgent measures were not implemented in districts of Ludhiana, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Jalandhar , Amritsar and Patiala, which would be the drivers of the spike.
Dr KK Talwar, head of the COVID expert task force, said that more restrictions were needed to check further surge, as the situation was worrying, given the way things had happened in Delhi, and with the virus clearly mutating. The strain seemed to be more aggressive, though it was still not known whether it was a double mutant or something else, he added.
RATES FOR RT-PCR RATE REDUCED TO Rs 450, RAT TO Rs 300
Rates for RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) by private labs have been reduced to Rs 450 and Rs 300 respectively (with additional charges for home collection of the samples), in a bid to promote increased testing.
RT-PCR NEGATIVE REPORT MANDATORY FOR FLIERS INTO PUNJAB
The Chief Minister, chairing a high level virtual meeting to review the COVID situation in the state, also ordered that all people flying into Punjab should have a negative RT-PCR not more than 72 hours old, else they would have to undergo RAT testing at the airport.
FIVE-DAY HOME QUARANTINE THOSE RETURNING FROM LARGE GATHERINGS
He also ordered that people who have attended large gatherings anywhere (religious or political or social) be mandatorily home quarantined for five days and tested as per protocol. In a bid to check inbound travelers, the Chief Minister also directed that Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) testing booths should be set up at bus stands and railway stations and all passengers be checked.
POSTPONE EXAMS
The Chief Minister ordered postponement of the recruitment exams for Patwaris and directed the state Medical Education Department to hold online examinations for first, second, and third year MBBS, BDS and BAMS and first year Nursing students.