Efforts to restart economic activities being made amid extended lockdown: Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday informed that the state is making efforts to start economic activities which have taken a hit due to the Coronavirus consequent lockdown. Taking to Twitter, Gehlot stated that the priority is to completely stop the transmission of COVID-19 and as the state relaxes the restrictions April 20 onwards to restart economic activities, it will ensure that social distancing and Centre's guidelines are followed. 

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'Economic activities have come to a standstill'

The Rajasthan Chief Minister had earlier observed that the state government is fighting on the health as well as the economic front. He said, "Economic activities have come to a standstill across the country and people do not have employment. Due to the lockdown, there has been a huge reduction in the revenue received by the Centre and the states. There has been an adverse impact on the economy and the industry has also suffered greatly."

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The Chief Minister had said that the Centre and the states would have to work together to bring the economy back on track. The process of lifting the lockdown will also have to be implemented in a phased manner, he added.

The Rajasthan government has also begun rapid testing for the COVID-19 infection with the help of newly-acquired rapid antibody testing kits. These new kits will expedite the testing time and detect carriers or superspreaders of the deadly Coronavirus who could infect the others. 

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The health department in Rajasthan is going beyond random sampling to detect carriers of the COVID-19 virus who pose a risk to others. After acquiring 10,000 rapid testing kits on Friday, 52 samples were tested all of which tested negative. On Saturday, 5000 tests were conducted in the walled city and other areas. With these kits, more than 500 samples can be taken in a day and test results are known in 15-20 minutes.

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