Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Wednesday said that the state government will face Rs 4,600 crore loss for the month of April (Express Photo By Pavan Khengre)
Based on Centre’s instructions, Haryana is gearing up to identify blocks/zones/ cities in districts that are so far COVID-free. Barring four districts of Nuh, Palwal, Faridabad and Gurgaon that will be included in the ‘red zone’, the state government is identifying the trades and industries that can be allowed to function in the remaining areas. With six fresh cases of COVID-19 including three from Nuh and one each from Panchkula, Panipat and Sonipat, Haryana’s total count of COVID-19 patients reached 190 on Wednesday evening.
State stares at Rs 4600 cr loss
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Wednesday said that the state government will face Rs 4,600 crore loss for the month of April. Khattar and several other chief ministers had raised this issue of resuming the economic activity in COVID-free areas during the video-conference with PM Saturday. After MHA issued detailed guidelines and parameters for giving certain relaxations beginning with green zones, Haryana government is preparing a list of all such establishments that can be allowed to function.
State count at 190
Out of the state’s total 190 cases, 43 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals, while 145 active patients continue to remain admitted at state’s various COVID hospitals. Till date, according to Haryana Health Department’s bulletin, two patients have died due to coronavirus.
Haryana’s majority of COVID cases are found in four districts including 48 in Nuh, 32 in Gurugram, 33 in Faridabad and 29 in Palwal. The rest of the Covid cases are found in 15 other districts of the State where the count in each district is below seven per district.
Markaz link in 2 of 3 new cases in Nuh
As three more people tested positive in Nuh on Wednesday, Health Department officials said that one of the new victims had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at Nizamuddin last month while another used to serve food to Jamaat attendees who visited his village.
The third person is an employee of a factory in the Rojka Meo Industrial Area, who had come in contact with a coronavirus positive truck driver.
“The driver hails from Alwar, but was living on rent in Sohna. He tested positive in Alwar, and our counterparts there alerted us. We had taken the samples of his contacts at the time, and one of them tested positive Wednesday, We sealed the factory on Sunday. We has also quarantined his family,” said Virender Yadav, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Nuh.
According to a health bulletin released on Tuesday evening, 39 of the 48 people who have tested positive attended the Nizamuddin Jamaat.
No new case in Gurgaon for sixth day
In Gurgaon, meanwhile, although no new cases of coronavirus emerged for the sixth day in a row on Tuesday. One more person recovered and was discharged from the hospital, said officials. “A total of 32 cases of COVID-19 have emerged in the district so far, of which 17 people have recovered,” said a spokesperson of the district administration.
The administration, on Tuesday, also started a drive through testing centres for COVID-19 in the city, at Tau Devi Lal Park, Rajiv Chowk, and the parking area of Maharana Pratap Park in Sector 29. However, anyone seeking such tests will require a prescription for COVID-19 testing from a registered medical practitioner, and will need to approach the centres directly for an appointment.
3 districts remain COVID-free
At least three districts of Haryana, Mahendragarh, Rewari and Jhajjar are totally COVID-free. Haryana government Wednesday called these districts as “an inspiration” for the rest of the state.
“Jhajjar is one such district where the local people have practiced patience and self-control during the lockdown with discipline combined with the effective arrangements made by the district administration during the first phase of the lockdown, resulting in not a single corona virus positive case here as yet… With a distance of merely 51-km from Delhi the reasons behind district Jhajjar was able to evade the highly contagious virus in this area goes back to its age-old practice of “Thikri Pehra”,” a government spokesperson said.
Containment orders issued
Meanwhile, containment orders were issued by concerned DMs/DCs for140 villages including 104 buffer zones in Nuh, 52 villages including 36 buffer zones in Palwal, 3 villages/colonies in Sonepat, 3 villages including 2 buffer zones in Karnal, 13 containment zones in Faridabad, 2 villages in Bhiwani, 7 villages including 3 buffer zones in Charkhi Dadri.
Containment restrictions have also been ordered in 9 villages/colonies in Gurgaon, 7 villages including 6 buffer zones in Jind, 4 villages in Fatehabad, 2 villages in Panipat, one each in Kaithal, Hisar and Jhajjar. Five containment zones have been identified in Sirsa, 4 in Yamuna Nagar and 7 in Kurukshetra.