Delhi logs total 54 Omicron cases, bans gathering for X’mas, New Year; no vax certificate, no salary in Punjab
Amid emerging gloom-and-doom scenario from the onslaught of Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Delhi, Punjab and Haryana Governments have imposed a series of restrictions to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
The Delhi Government prohibited all cultural and mass gatherings for Christmas and New Year in the National Capital Territory (NCT). “Delhi Disaster Management Authority in view of rising Covid cases and variant of concern-Omicron instructs DMs to take all required measures in their respective jurisdictions to control the spread. No mask/no entry should be strictly ensured at shops/workplace,” a statement said.
Delhi has reported a total of 54 Omicron cases. The city recorded 125 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, which is the highest in six months’ time.
On Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that all samples that test positive for Covid-19 will now be sent for genome sequencing.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain also said that the national Capital is prepared with robust health infra in city hospitals.
The number of containment zones in the city has been increased from 173 to 184 on Tuesday. 23,000 Covid-19 beds are prepped and ready in Delhi. Additionally, the Government is planning to arrange 100 beds per ward on a two-week notice. If implemented, the total number of beds in Delhi will grow by 64,000.
In a statement, the Government also announced that 6,800 ICU beds will also be ready very soon to tackle any severe outbreak of Covid-19 or its Omicron variant. Efforts are also being made to improve and develop home isolation arrangements and hospitals are getting booster stocks of medicines.
Kejriwal on Thursday will hold a review meeting on preparedness and management amid the potential threat from new Omicron variant, an official said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has ruled that the employees would get their salaries only if they submit their vaccination certificates.
As per the orders issued by the State Finance Department, all the employees whether fully vaccinated or have taken a single dose have to upload their vaccination certificates on the State Government’s job portal, otherwise their salaries would not be released.
The vaccination certificates have to be uploaded on the Punjab Government’s iHRMS website (Integrated Human Resource Management System). The software streamlines salary payment and retirement benefit withdrawals, and the salary is credited automatically only to the account of an employees’ designated bank account, preventing fraud in salary distribution.
The order also assumes significance as it came at a time when the elections are just about months away. Notably, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Dr S Karuna Raju had also insisted that all the Government employees should be fully vaccinated to avoid any risk of spread during the elections.
The official added that the Election Commission had also made it clear that only those employees will be given election duty who are fully vaccinated - taken both doses. “In such a situation, if there are employees who have not taken both the doses, there could be a shortage of employees for election duty,” added the official.
As of now, 2,59,04,479 people in Punjab have been vaccinated, including 1,69,62,706 vaccinated with first dose, and only 89,41,773 having received both the doses.
While in Haryana, come January 1, 2022, the 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 stores, 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, the Covid-19 vaccination certificate will be mandatory for students (more than 18 years) of colleges/polytechnics. Also, no individuals, 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 the spread of Omicron, a new variant of Covid-19 in Haryana.
Around 93 per cent of the eligible population have got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while 59 per cent have got both doses of the vaccine in the State. Gurugram has inoculated 100 per cent 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 to 1,91,10,472 (93 per cent of the eligible population) and the second dose to 1,20,75,820 (covering 59 per cent eligible population).