Gurgaon has seen a massive surge in covid cases in the last few weeks along with rest of Haryana. (Represenational Image) Even as Gurgaon recorded its highest-ever single day spike in Covid cases on Thursday, with 1,434 people testing positive, Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg offered reassurance that there is no shortage of beds, oxygen, ventilators, or other health infrastructure in the district. Prior to this, the highest count of fresh cases in the district was on Wednesday, when 1,151 new cases had emerged.
“There is no shortage of beds, oxygen, ventilators or other things for Covid patients in the district. Apart from Gurgaon, beds have been arranged in Nalhad Medical College and AIIMS Bhadsa after requesting the state government. In addition, beds have also been reserved for Covid patients in SGT Medical College, Chandu Budhera,” said Garg.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, during a meeting with all deputy commissioners, superintendents of police, and civil surgeons, announced further restrictions on gatherings in the state – a maximum of 200 people will be allowed to gather for weddings held outdoors, 50 for those organised indoors, and not more than 20 people in case of funerals.
Garg appealed to people to organise these events during the day instead of at night: “I appeal to residents of the district to keep weddings and other programmes in the day instead of at night, which will also help organisers. Similarly, programmes for Navratri should also be organized in the day and try to ensure that too much crowd does not gather in these.”
“Economic activities and industries can continue operations in the district, but everyone has to take precautions as per the directions of the state government to prevent spread of the infection,” he added.
During Thursday’s meeting, the chief minister also directed sampling and contact tracing in the state be increased. Reassuring people that there will be no lockdown in Haryana, he also appealed to farmers camped at the Delhi-NCR borders to call off their agitation in light of the pandemic.
With more than 1,000 Covid cases emerging on several days this week, the Deputy Commissioner, on Thursday, also notified self and government-paid isolation facilities that can be used for people with mild symptoms.
“… there are instances where people (who) don’t have requisite space at home may opt for facilities such as hotels, guest houses etc. This is likely to reduce the pressure on the family, give comfort to the person and protect the family members and immediate neighbourhood,” an order listing out a total of 17 such establishments said.
Among the establishments, 12 are self-paid with a cumulative capacity of 435 rooms costing between Rs 1,200 and Rs 3,500 per day. The remaining five are government-paid facilities, having a total capacity of 142 rooms costing between Rs 700 and Rs 1,200 per day.
Taking note of the rising number of active Covid cases in Gurgaon, District and Sessions Judge Surya Pratap Singh also issued orders on Thursday evening putting in place certain curbs for courts which will remain in place till April 30.
As per the order, “only urgent nature of cases” will be heard during the period, undertrial prisoners will be produced “through video conferencing mode only”, and no evidence will be recorded except in “time bound cases” and “cases in which accused are in custody for more than two years”.
In order to reduce the footfall in the Judicial Court Complexes, it has also been directed that “staff/officials shall work at 50% strength in Courts/offices/Branches”. Apart from directing that temperature of people entering the court premises be checked and sanitisers placed at “conspicuous places”, the order also directs closure of “Canteens and other Food Stalls” operating in the court complex.
“The District Health Authorities shall conduct Covid test of all the Judicial Officers, the officials and Advocates from 16.04.2021 onwards.” States the order.
Gurgaon has been recording more than 1,000 new cases on four of the last five days. The district currently has 7,741 active cases, of which 7,230 are in home isolation.
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