Chief Minister Hemant Soren today appealed to the people of the State to celebrate the New Year with restraint and alertness in the wake of rising cases of Covid-19 in Jharkhand. Chairing a high-level meeting with senior officials of the government, the CM expressed serious concern over the sudden increase in Covid-19 cases in the State.
The CM took updated information from the officials about the increase in corona infection cases in the last one week. Keeping an eye on New Year's gathering events, he directed the officers to strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines at waterfalls, parks, picnic spots and temples etc. The CM directed the officers to conduct corona test drives at all crowded places. In the course of the review, it came to the fore that in Hazaribagh and Bokaro districts, less testing and more positive cases have come as per the data of corona investigation. On this, the CM said that appropriate steps should be taken to speed up the investigation of Covid-19 in these two districts and to prevent the spread of infection, the officers should ensure that.
In the meeting, the CM was apprised that at present about 35 thousand Covid-19 tests are being conducted in the State every day. He directed the officers in this regard that the departments should make such arrangements soon, so that it should be ensured that between 75 thousand to 1 lakh corona tests are conducted daily.
The CM said that by holding a high-level meeting next week, assessing all the aspects of the rising cases of corona infection, the State government would take concrete steps as needed. He said that by January 15, ensure 100 per cent vaccination of adult people in the State. Those who have taken the first dose of the vaccine should be ensured that they get the second dose at the same time and those who have not taken the first dose of the vaccine should ensure that at least the first dose is taken. In the meeting, the CM also gave many important directions to the officers regarding the preparations for the third wave. He said that there should be no shortage of medical oxygen beds, ventilators, ICU beds, normal beds etc in the hospitals, so that there should be continuous monitoring of the preparations made for this purpose.
The CM has appealed to the people of the State to make use of face masks, social distancing and other means of prevention from infection at any cost. He asked to avoid attending gathering parties to be organized in the New Year. He said that an increase in the cases of corona infection has been registered in the last one week, it is a matter of concern for all of us. He appealed to the people to protect themselves as well as their families, understand the changing variants of corona infection and forbade them to go to crowded places unnecessarily.
Soren said that in the first and second wave of corona infection, the people of the State had set a better example by coordinating with the government. “In the future, we all need to do better in the public interest. We will all fight against corona infection and we will win in any case. To prevent the spread of corona infection, the State government expects cooperation from the people of Jharkhand,” he said.
In the meeting, Minister of Disaster Management Department Banna Gupta, Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Additional Chief Secretary-cum- Principal Secretary of Health Department Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka, Secretary to Chief Minister Vinay Kumar Choubey, Secretary, Disaster Management Department, Amitabh Kaushal, MD, Jharkhand Medical Corporation, Nancy Sahai and other officials were present.