As active Covid cases in the state surged to 12,616, with daily positivity rate climbing to over 5%, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday announced to bring a stricter policy to deal with the problem.
The Chief Minister blamed the surge in cases on fatigue/laxity in following COVID Appropriate Behaviors, large social and religious gatherings, and efforts at normalization such as opening of schools and colleges.
Large positivity was seen in the state’s young population, he said. He said the trend was worrying as the state had reported a total of 1475 cases and 38 deaths on Monday, preceded by 1843 cases and 43 deaths the day before.
He pointed out that the state finance minister Manpreet Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Badal had also tested positive for Coronavirus. “We are making a policy, we will get stricter from tomorrow,” he added.
With the role of virus mutation still unclear, the Chief Minster underlined the need to strengthen viral sequencing particularly in Punjab, “as over 50% positive cases now are below 40 years of age, and we need to urgently assess whether this is due to any variant.” The state, he disclosed,
had sent a large number of samples for genome sequencing but very few results had been received, of which 2 indicated presence of variant.
He said that extensive social media campaign is being undertaken through Mission Fateh to address the mis-information regarding COVID and vaccination hesitancy, he further said.
Listing out the measures taken by his government to battle the ongoing second wave, the Chief Minister revealed that the state has imposed restrictions on social gatherings - maximum of 100 for indoor events and 200 for outdoor events.