Evenas he made it clear that he was not in favour of a complete and harsh lockdown,Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday warned people againstlaxity in adherence to the curbs imposed in the state, and said if thesituation did not improve he would be forced to consider a total lockdown.
TheChief Minister said he had so far refrained from ordering a sweeping lockdownin the state because it will hurt the poor the most and would lead to exodus ofmigrant labourers, plunging industries into chaos again. However, if the peopledo not stringently comply with the restrictions in place, harsher steps mighthave to be taken, he added.
Thestate is currently in a soft lockdown situation, with strong curbs in place,with additional restrictions imposed by the government on Sunday. DGP DinkarGupta told the meeting that all measures were being taken to enforce thecurrent curbs strictly.
Chairinga high-level virtual meeting to review the Covid situation, the Chief Ministertoday also ordered a stop on all take-away deliveries from restaurants, whichwas being used by youngsters as a pretext to move out of their homes. Only homedeliveries of food should be allowed, he directed the officials. He, however,gave permission for shops selling fertilisers to be open.
Assertingthat he will not allow Punjab to go the way of some other states, wherepatients could be seen lying out on the roads, Chief Minister said Industryshould be encouraged to use their CSR funds for vaccination and treatment oftheir labour suffering from mild or moderate illness, so that they can stay athome, thus reducing pressure on hospitals.
Underliningthe need to step up preparedness amid projections of a peak in the coming days,the Chief Minister ordered 20% increase in bed capacity in the next 10 days. Hedirected the Health and Medical Education departments to get stadiums, gymnasiums and other suchplaces ready to house patients. Tented camps should be set up, and gyms/hallsshould be converted into L2 and L3 facilities, he said, adding that “we have tobe prepared for the worst.” He also directed use of staff from ruraldevelopment and other departments to augment the workforce for tracing of Covidcontacts in rural areas.
Thedirectives came as Health Minister Balbir Sidhu said the situation was grimwith only 300 beds now available at L3 level in the state. Hospitals weregetting overwhelmed, he added.
Health Secretary Hussan Lal pointed out thatthe state’s positivity rate had on Sunday stood at 12%, with the Malwa regionshowing increase cases in the last 7-10 days. With L3 occupancy 90% and in somecases 100%, the situation was grim, he said, adding that CFR was close to 2%and higher (at 2.7%) in rural areas. Home deaths currently were also at 2%. Theworrying factor was that 17% of the all deaths had no co-morbid conditions, hesaid.
DrKK Talwar, head of the state’s Covid Expert Committee, stressed the need toprioritise monitoring of home isolation cases to identify serious patientsfast, especially in rural areas. With no clarity still on whether mutation wasresponsible for the current spread, he also underlined the importance ofincreasing L3 bed capacity.
MedicalEducation Secretary DK Tewari disclosed that from 343 in the first week ofApril, ICU bed capacity had increased to 770 and would be further enhanced to900 by the end of the week. Total oxygen beds will be increased from 1500 to1800 this week and further to 2000, he disclosed. To augment manpower, 700 MBBSFinal year students, 90 BDS final year students and 70 Senior Residents wouldbe recruited immediately, while 86 nurses will also join in the next one week, hesaid, adding that a total of 473 new recruitments will be made this month.