PremiumAs many as 93 students at a government nursing college at Uttarakhand's Sursingh Dhar tested positive for coronavirus, news agency ANI reported on Saturday. The hostel of the college has been declared a containment zone.
Amid the coronavirus surge, the state health department on Friday advised the government to restrict the activities or implement lockdown on the same parallel lines as of Maharashtra by adopting the "break the chain" formula.
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Premium Premium Further, the state government on Friday announced that people in the 18-45 age group will be inoculated against COVID-19 for free. Making the announcement, Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said the exercise will begin in the first week of May.
A population of around 50 lakh will be covered under the drive, which will cost an estimated ₹400 crore to the state exchequer, Rawat told reporters. The state government will bear the entire costs, he said.
Rawat also said 345 new doctors, who were recently recruited through the state public service commission in Uttarakhand, will be deployed up to the Community Health Centre and Primary Health Centre level, besides being put on COVID duty. "Eliminating COVID is our priority," the chief minister said.
Earlier on Thursday evening, the state government ordered closure of all offices in the state for three days from April 23. According to the directions issued by the state government, the offices will remain closed on April 23, 24, and 25. The directions will not be applicable to offices dealing with essential services.
Meanwhile, 65 healthcare personnel, including doctors, deployed on Kumbh duty have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said on Friday, a PTI report said. All of them have been kept in isolation, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the COVID-19 challenge before the country now is bigger than the last year and called for making efforts to ensure that the infectious disease is stopped from hitting villages "by all means".
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