In a bid to once again encourage COVID-19-appropriate behaviour among people of the State, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today directed the…..

Chandigarh, March 1: In a bid to once again encourage COVID-19-appropriate behaviour among people of the State, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today directed the officers concerned to provide at least five free masks to those found without face cover in public and also start the drive of imposing a fine on those who are found without masks. Besides this, proactive strategies should be made to effectively combat the spread of novel Corona virus in the State.
While again appealing to the people of the State to wear masks whenever they venture out, Sh. Manohar Lal said, “Though vaccination for COVID-19 has been rolled out but sill we should religiously follow all the guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing to stay safe and to ensure containment of virus spread.”
The Chief Minister gave these directions while presiding over a review meeting regarding COVID-19 held with Administrative Secretaries here today.
During the meeting, Sh. Manohar Lal directed officers to ramp up COVID-19 management preparations coupled with aggressive surveillance, stringent containment, swift contact tracing, focused clinical management along with proactive Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities.
“Radio jingles, publicity campaigns regarding COVID-19 guidelines like wearing masks, sanitizing hands and social distancing should be followed meticulously. Besides this, physical checking of the industries and enforcement of COVID precautions and guidelines at public places like malls, eating joints, bus stands, schools, colleges etc should also be done regularly. The sanitization system should be also strengthened at these places along with the distribution of masks,” directed the Chief Minister.
“Re-enforcement of COVID guidelines through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Local Bodies and Police Department should be done vigorously along with the acceleration of the vaccination drive, directed the Chief Minister.
During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sh. Rajeev Arora apprised the Chief Minister that on an average 15,000 to 18,000 daily COVID tests are being conducted in Haryana. The test positivity rate on weekly basis is less than one per cent. At present, there are 1205 active COVID cases in Haryana. More RTPCR tests are being conducted as compared to Antigen, said Sh. Rajeev Arora.
“On January 16, 2021, the COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched by the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi across the country. During the first phase of vaccination of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and Front Line Workers (FLWs) was initiated for the HCWs and from February 4, 2021, for the FLWs,” informed Sh. Rajeev Arora
Sh. Rajeev Arora further shared that more than 1.5 lakh HCWs have been given the first dose and more than 71,000 have been given the second dose so far. Total 2.21 lakh doses (both 1st and 2nd doses) have been given to the HCWs. Against approximately 1.30 lakh registered Front Line Workers, 71,000 FLWs had been given the first dose, he informed.
He shared that till now, a total of 2.2 lakh HCWs and FLWs have been vaccinated for the first dose. More than 2.93 lakh persons (both 1st and 2nd dose) have been administered vaccination dose.
Divulging details regarding the third phase of the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout beginning from today, Sh. Rajeev Arora shared that in this phase of the vaccination citizens of age-appropriate categories and HCWs and FLWs will be covered. The population covering 60 years of age and above and those with co-morbidities falling within the age group of 45 years to 59 years will be administered vaccination in the third phase, shared Sh. Rajeev Arora.
Chief Secretary, Sh. Vijai Vardhan, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. D.S. Dhesi, Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education and Research Department, Sh. Alok Nigam, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, Sh. S.N. Roy, Additional Chief Secretary, School Education Department, Sh. Mahavir Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, Sh. Anand Mohan Sharan, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information Public Relations and Languages Department, Dr. Amit Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer, Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Authority, Smt. Amneet P. Kumar, Director General, Industries and Commerce, Sh. Saket Kumar, Director Urban Local Bodies Department, Sh. Ashok Kumar Meena, Mission Director National Health Mission, Haryana, Sh. Prabhjot Singh, ADGP Law and Order, Sh. Navdeep Singh Virk and other senior officers were present in the meeting.