After being the first state to impose a curfew, Punjab state government on the contrary to all states has decided to lift lockdown. As per Punjab CM Captain Amarinder, lockdown will be lifted district wise. However, the lifting of lockdown will not be for everyone. As per Punjab CM, only farmers will get temporary relief from coronavirus lockdown restrictions to help them harvest crops.
There are 101 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including eight deaths, in the state, which was the second (after Kerala) to go under a complete lockdown to stop the spread of the contagious virus.
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In response to a question, Captain Amarinder said his government was gearing up for every eventuality, and had planned for making arrangements in four phases – for 2000 patients, 10000 patients, 30000 patients and 1 lakh patients needing isolation and treatment. While ventilators, masks etc were sufficient for the present, more had been ordered and would start coming in the next few days, he added. On PPE kits, the Chief Minister said with two Ludhiana manufacturers getting approval for making such kits, the state would start getting 5000 of them a day from Monday and could provide the excess to other states, with directly or through the Government of India. As for medical staff, he said retired doctors had volunteered in large numbers and were on standby to help out.
With regard to testing, the Chief Minister admitted that the 2877 tests conducted so far were simply not enough, given Punjab population of 2.8 crore. Testing was constraint as only two hospitals in Punjab were given permission to test initially, along with PGI Chandigarh, but one more was now being added along with two private labs, he added. With 25000 Rapid Testing Kits also expected to arrive, mass testing in hotpots will also begin from Monday, he said. In the next few days, the health department would get more aggressive with testing and random testing will be done in areas of concentration, said Captain Amarinder.
On the contribution of Tablighi Jamaat to the spread of the pandemic in Punjab, the Chief Minister revealed that his government had received a list of 651 who had entered the state, and of these, 636 had so far been traced and 27 found positive (including 10 contacts of these TJ Nizamuddin attendees).
Among the nearly 1.5 lakh NRIs and foreign returnees, the state had traced and quarantined the majority, said Captain Amarinder, adding that the quarantine period was over in 33166 cases of foreign travel.
Replying to questions on the harvesting of wheat, scheduled to begin on April 15, the Chief Minister said the state was gearing up to handle another bumper harvest and would be going in for district wise and village wise marketing/procurement. The number of Mandis from 1800 to 3800 this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that apart from police and district officials, Guardians of Governance personnel would also man the Mandis, with NCC volunteers also likely to pitch in.
One of the strategies submitted by NITI Aayog to the Central government suggested dividing states into four stages depending upon the number of cases and hotspots. According to that report, Punjab comes under stage 2 which was not suppose to lift lockdown soon. However, only for farmers and district wise terms may prove a masterstroke by Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh