Rural areas in Punjab, which were largely unaffected in the first wave, have been bearing the brunt of the second Covid wave with the government rushing to set up infrastructure and step up Covid testing in order to check the spread of the virus. (PTI/File) Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday urged villagers to restrict and monitor and only allow Covid negative people to enter their villages.
Rural areas in Punjab, which were largely unaffected in the first wave, have been bearing the brunt of the second Covid wave with the government rushing to set up infrastructure and step up Covid testing in order to check the spread of the virus.
Addressing residents during a Facebook live telecast, the Chief Minister called for stricter measures in rural areas over the next two months, which he said would be extremely crucial. “Now the rural areas are seeing a surge in cases, so we need to be very careful,” he said, urging villagers to conduct ‘theekri pheras’ to keep outsiders away and allow only Covid-free people to enter.
Exhorting people to “save your mohallas and villages to save yourself, your families and Punjab”, the Chief Minister asked them not to delay going to hospitals if they get any symptoms. “We have teams of doctors everywhere, approach them if you feel unwell,” he urged them, stressing that delay in starting treatment was leading people to end up in Level 3 hospitals. While occupancy of Level 2 beds is around 50 per cent, the Level 3 hospitals had around 90% of their beds occupied currently. The state government was in the process of adding another 2,000 L3 beds,” the Chief Minister pointed out.
He said that there were three stages of the disease, of which the first can be managed at home. Captain Amarinder reiterated, “Let the doctors decide the course of treatment, don’t self-diagnose and self-medicate.” ].
“I fail to understand why we are harming the interests of the state and your families in this manner,” he said, adding “We do not want Punjab to go the way of Delhi and Maharashtra, which have experienced unprecedented problems amid the second wave.”
The disease was wreaking havoc the world over, with even the most advanced countries not immune to it, he said.
The Chief Minister expressed happiness over the seamless completion of wheat procurement amid the Covid challenge, lauding the hard-working farmers of the state for this achievement. Compared to 129 lakh MT last year, a total of 132 lakh MT of wheat has been procured this year, he said, adding that this had resulted in earnings to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore for the farmers, as against Rs. 24,600 crore last year.
“We have won that battle, but the pandemic threat continues,” he said.
Giving figures, he disclosed that Punjab has so far had 4.75 lakh plus cases, with Thursday’s 24-hour caseload standing at 8484. While the total deaths stood at 11297, the state had lost 184 lives to Covid in the last 24 hours, he added. As of date, there are 9619 patients on oxygen support and 429 on ventilator support.
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