Clamping down heavily on the fresh Covid surge, Punjab ChiefMinister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered massive state-widerestrictions beginning tomorrow, with closure of educational institutions tillMarch 31 and restrictions on cinema/mall capacities.
All educational institutions, other than medical and nursingcolleges, will remain closed till March 31, with restriction of 50% capacity incinema halls and not more than 100 persons in a mall at any time. He appealedto the people to keep social activity in their houses to the bare minimum forthe next 2 weeks to break the transmission chain. Not more than 10 visitorsshould be entertained in homes, he urged.
In the 11 worst-hit districts, a complete ban has beenordered on all social gatherings and related functions, except forfunerals/cremations/ weddings, which will be allowed with only 20 persons inattendance. This will be enforced from Sunday. In these districts, which willremain under night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m, the Chief Minister has orderedcinemas, multiplexes, restaurants, malls etc to remain closed on Sundays,though home deliveries will be allowed subject to night curfew. Industries andessential services shall be allowed to function, but barring these, allrestrictions shall be strictly enforced, the Chief Minister directed the topcivic and police officials in these districts.
Also, starting next week, one hour of silence will beobserved across the state every Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 12 noon, in memory ofthose who lost their lives to Covid, with no vehicle to ply at this time. TheChief Minister asked the district administration to involve the general public,along with market committees, Sarpanches etc, in this initiative, which will,however, remain voluntary for them.
In the 11 worst affected districts of Ludhiana, Jalandhar,Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib,Ropar and Moga, the Chief Minister ordered restrictions on in-person publicdealings in government offices, with citizens to be encouraged to visit officesonly for essential services. Captain Amarinder directed officials to encourageonline and virtual modes for grievance redressal, and asked concerneddepartments to issue necessary instructions for limiting appointments per dayfor registries etc.
Though other districts will not be placed under suchstringent restrictions for now, the Chief Minister ordered immediatereinforcement and strict monitoring of the strategy of micro-containment andcontainment zones where there are evident clusters. He made it clear that ifnecessary, strict curbs will also be imposed in other districts if thesituation worsens and Covid protocols and norms are not adhered to be by thepeople.
The situation will be reviewed after two weeks, said theChief Minister, chairing a meeting of the Covid Task Force with top officials.
Directing health officials to ramp up testing per day to35,000, the Chief Minister said special focus should be on super spreaders, andGovernment employees, teachers in educational institutions, etc. must be testedroutinely. RAT testing should be stepped up along with RTPCR testing, heordered, while directing contact tracing and contact testing to be taken up to30 per positive person. The CPTOs must personally monitor this task, he said.
The Chief Minister also directed the Department of MedicalEducation & Research to immediately complete recruitment ofspecialists/super-specialists.
Captain Amarinder said well-functioning hospitals, whereserious cases are best handled, have been advised to restore the Covid beds andpostpone elective surgeries.
The names of the COVID Monitors, who are appointed at everyestablishment and office- the names, should be available with the DistrictAdministration, along with their numbers, said the Chief Minister They shall beresponsible for ensuring following of COVID Appropriate Behaviour at theirorganisations, he said, adding that the Departments of Labour; Excise andTaxation, among others, must assist the Deputy Commissioners to enforce theseinstructions.
Dr KK Talwar, who heads the state government’s expert team onCovid, said the surge in cases appeared to be the result of opening of schoolsand colleges, with young asymptomatic people appearing to be spreading thevirus. There was no evidence as of now to show that the spike was due to themutants, as only 2 cases of new strains had been found in Punjab so far. Thestate currently has almost 40% cases from under 30 population, he added.