Punjab chief secretary holds meeting with experts in view of surge in COVID-19 cases

Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan on Sunday chaired a meeting of the state health response and procurement committee of the Department of Health, Medical Education and School Education in view of a surge in fresh COVID-19 cases in the state in recent weeks.

She said the government is keeping a close watch and a decision on reducing occupancy or closing restaurants, malls and cinema houses would be taken depending on the COVID-19 situation in the state.

During the meeting, she reviewed and discussed with experts possible steps to effectively tackle the spread of the infection, an official statement said here.

Dr Mandeep Bhandari, Joint Secretary to Government of India, who had recently visited Punjab as head of the Central team along with Dr Lakshmi from PGIMER shared their observations regarding the surge in COVID-19 cases in Punjab.

They were of the view that the primary reason for the surge in cases in the state is because people were not following COVID-appropriate behaviour and not strictly abiding by the safety protocols.

Principal Secretary of Medical Education D K Tewari said students of medical colleges are getting tested for COVID-19 every 15 days and no positive case has been found yet.

Mahajan directed the health and medical education Departments to strengthen their treatment facilities to deal with a "second wave" and fill vacant posts on priority.

Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare, Hussan Lal stated that vaccination sites would be extended to district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals and community health centres to facilitate vaccination of beneficiaries.