Don’t want to lose any health worker to Covid: Punjab minister amid Covid surge

Punjab has administered more than 136,000 vaccine doses till now and the Congress-led government had earlier extended the last date to administer first vaccine doses for health care workers from February 19 to February 25.

Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Monday once again appealed to all the healthcare workers in the state to get themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as they have been on the frontline in the war against the outbreak. Sindhu added that the government did not want any health workers succumbing to the virus.

The Covid testing lab in GADVASU was established under the Punjab government’s Mission Fateh and inaugurated on August 10. (HT Photo)

Punjab has administered more than 136,000 vaccine doses till now and the Congress-led government had earlier extended the last date to administer first vaccine doses for health care workers from February 19 to February 25.

“Matter of concern that cases are rising since 3-4 days. Have asked healthcare workers to get vaccinated as they’re on frontline. Don’t want to lose any other health worker to Covid. If cases rise anything is possible. We’ve to take precautions from our end,” Sindhu was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The state health minister had warned on Sunday that those healthcare workers who don’t get the vaccine shot despite being given repeated opportunities will have to bear the cost of their treatment if they test positive for Covid-19. Such healthcare workers would also be barred to avail any quarantine facility or take isolation leaves, Sindhu added.

Punjab registered 348 new coronavirus disease cases and six more related deaths on Sunday which took the total caseload and death toll to 178,459 and 5,754 respectively, according to the health department’s bulletin. The state has witnessed a surge in its overall Covid-19 situation from the last few days with daily cases increasing in the range of 250 to 350. Due to this, the active cases have also gone up 3,019 from 2,000 three weeks back.

The Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar continues to be the worst hit district in Punjab followed by Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar. SBS Nagar recorded 63 cases on Sunday and the highest spike in the district was seen on February 19 when 101 cases were added.

Meanwhile, more than 110 million beneficiaries have been administered doses across India so far, according to the Union health ministry’s update at 8am. The ministry on Monday urged all states and Union Territories (UTs) to speed up their administration of vaccines for healthcare and frontiline workers noting that a large number of them still remained to be covered.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the number of days of vaccination per week should go up to a minimum of four days in order to speed up the vaccination process and also gear up to administer doses to those above the age of 50.