Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan reviews preparedness for second wave of pandemic

Chandigarh, 7th March

In order to effectively manage the second wave of the Pandemic Covid-19 in Punjab state and to break the chain of transmission, a high level meeting was chaired here today by Chief Secretary, Ms Vini Mahajan, wherein the Deputy Commissioners, Police Chiefs and key officers of other stakeholder departments like health and medical education were present.

Chief Secretay reviewed the preparedness for the second wave of pandemic with each district along with their status of the vaccination.

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She said ‘the second wave of the disease has already started and all DCs and Police Chiefs must ensure that large gatherings like marriages, religious events and social functions should be restricted as per the guidelines of the Government and COVID monitors should be deputed at marriage palaces and other places of gatherings.

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She further directed the Deputy Commissioners and Police Chiefs to ensure strict enforcement of Covid-19 regulations at all places in their respective jurisdiction and people be educated for Covid appropriate behaviours.

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Ms Vini Mahajan also emphasized upon the detailed assessment of Health Care Facilities to effectively combat the second wave. She asked the officers to quickly undertake an analysis of positivity rate in towns, where elections were held recently, to assess the impact of crowding at these places. She said that as the overall positivity rate in schools is low, hence there is no need to close the schools. She however added that the school teachers should be encouraged to get tested and eligible teachers must be vaccinated as front line workers on priority. She expressed concern that number of cases and positivity rate has increased in the last two weeks in the state and 9 districts of Punjab have shown higher number of cases in last two weeks with markedly increased case positivity rate.

She exhorted that a major thrust needs to be given on awareness regarding COVID Appropriate Behaviors among the community.

Sh. Hussan Lal, Principal Secretary Health presented the current status of COVID-19 trends. He shared the data about some super spreader events like marriages, social gatherings and offices resulting in greater exposure and increased positivity. He informed that 2, 38,367 persons have already been given first dose of COVID-19 vaccine with no major adverse events following immunization. He also appraised the Chief Secretary regarding a model which predicts huge surge in number of cases starting mid March to 3000 cases per day by end of March.

The virtual meeting was also attended by DGP Punjab Sh. Dinkar Gupta, Principal Secretary Medical Education Sh D K Tiwari, Secretary School Education Sh. Krishan Kumar, Secretary Health and Family Welfare S. Kumar Rahul, Mission Director PHSC Ms. Tanu Kashyap, Special Secretary Sh. Amit Kumar, Director Health Services Dr. G B Singh, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, EDSHSRC, Director Family Welfare Dr. Andesh Kand and State Nodal Officer COVID-19 Dr Rajesh Bhaskar.