Punjab extends Covid restrictions till September 30
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Sep, 2021 11:51 AM
Chandigarh, Sep 10 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered extension of the existing Covid-19 restrictions till September 30, in view of the upcoming festival season, with a limit of 300 on all gatherings, including political, and strict enforcement of wearing of masks as well as social distancing.
He also made it mandatory for organisers, including political parties, to ensure that participants, management and staff at food stalls, etc., in festival related events are fully vaccinated, or at least have had a single dose.
Calling for continued vigil in the light of the festivals, the Chief Minister urged all political parties to lead by example, while directing the DGP to ensure compliance of restrictions by all.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said with the case load decreasing, people had started being lax about wearing masks, which the Health Department should strictly enforce with the help of the police.
Amarinder Singh also directed Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to make joint administration-police flying squads in each district to ensure compliance at restaurants, marriage palaces etc.
Chairing a virtual Covid review meeting, the Chief Minister directed the Department of Social Security to prepare to open Anganwari Centres within this month.
The opening of these centres will be subject to vaccination of staff and other guidelines to be worked out jointly with the Health Department.
The Chief Minister also ordered increase in testing from the current 45,000 per day to at least 50,000 per day as part of the preparations for the possible third wave.
Along with sentinel testing, outreach camps and testing should be taken up, especially where public gathering is expected to take place on account of the festival season, he directed, adding that all infrastructure augmentation work should be expedited and completed.
Pointing out that the GIS-based surveillance and prevention tool with an auto trigger mechanism for localised restrictions was now live in all districts, Amarinder Singh directed the Health Department to take micro-containment measures using these tools for areas or localities where cases are more than five.
K.K. Talwar, head of the state's Covid expert committee, said while the situation currently was under control, there was need to prepare for the third wave, and also for the upcoming festival season.
He urged the Chief Minister to appeal to all religious organizations to make regular announcements from temples and gurdwaras for wearing of masks.
Market committees should be asked to do the same in view of the crowds expected in markets, he suggested, adding that shopkeepers and their staff should also be tested more aggressively on account of the festival season.
The government has decided to call a special session of the Vidhan Sabha for one day on September 3 to commemorate the historic 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur.
Sonia Gandhi on Monday approved several committees ahead of the Assembly polls in Goa. Girish Chodankar has been retained as the state president and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will continue as the Congress legislative party leader while Alexio Sequeira is the Working state President.
After Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, Afghanistan has plunged into a big humanitarian crisis. Pakistan is perceived as having played a major role in bringing the Taliban back to power. As evacuation of foreign nationals winds down, a US missile defence system intercepted rockets fired towards the Kabul international airport.
Adityanath visited the families of those who lost their members and assured them of help. The Chief Minister also visited the 100-bed district hospital at Firozabad where children showing symptoms of the disease are being treated.
The Punjab Chief Minister reminded Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala that the farmers who were protesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) meeting in Karnal when the police baton charged them belonged to Haryana and not Punjab.
A video had gone viral of the SDM shouting out instructions to policemen to use force to stop the protesting farmers. Khattar had told a press conference that the officer's "choice of words was not correct" but said, "if any action has to be taken (against the officer), it would first have to be assessed by the district administration."
