Amid apprehensions of community spread of COVID-19 and projections indicating that the pandemic peak in the State is still two months away, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered stricter lockdown on weekends and public holidays, with movement to be restricted to e-pass holders.
All citizens, except medical staff and essential service providers, would be required to download e-passes from the COVA app, the Chief Minister said at a video conference meeting to review the situation and the preparedness to handle further spread.
The Chief Minister also asked medical and health experts to consider imposition of strict conditions, including mandatory testing certification, for entrants from Delhi, where the situation had assumed alarming proportions.
A decision on stricter curbs on those coming from Delhi will be taken after a review by the experts, an official spokesperson said after the meeting.
“Industry, however, will be allowed to function normally on all days,” said the Chief Minister during the meeting, and asked DGP Dinkar Gupta to ensure strict implementation of these directives to prevent gathering of large crowds.
The Chief Minister said such tough measures were necessitated on account of the spiralling cases across the world. “Stringent curbs could help delay the peak for as long as possible” he said, pointing out that with no early vaccine or treatment in sight, strict protocols was the only way to fight the pandemic.
Pointing out that many of those who had come from outside had behaved irresponsibly and had not reported to the health authorities, the Chief Minister said tough measures would have to be taken where needed, as the spike was still continuing and was expected to escalate in the days ahead.
The Chief Minister suggested that since it normally takes 3-4 days for the virus to show up, those coming from outside should be tested after a week and in the meantime they should be strictly asked to home quarantine themselves.
Expressing concern over the large number of people coming from outside, though the positive cases among them were not many, the Chief Minister said there was no scope for complacency in the battle. The efforts would need to be scaled up particularly in view of the Health department’s projections suggesting that the peak had yet to hit Punjab, and it could happen towards the end of August if the doubling period continues to come down as per the current trend.