E-Paper
Night curfew back in Chandigarh
To remain in place from 10pm to 5am; move comes the day Centre flags Chandigarh as the only area of concern in terms of Covid-19 pandemic among small states, UTs
Amid a steep surge in Covid-19 cases, the Chandigarh administration on Tuesday decided to enforce night curfew in the city from 10pm to 5am. Formal orders will be issued on Wednesday and will come into effect immediately.
During the curfew hours, no gatherings, parties or non-essential activities will be allowed. Even restaurants will be required to close by 10pm.
Stricter measures like weekend curfew and closure of apni mandis and other crowded places will also be considered, unless people start abiding by the guidelines for Covid appropriate behaviour, said UT administrator VP Singh Badnore while chairing a review meeting where the decision was taken.
He also directed police to ensure strict implementation of the night curfew. The curfew will be reviewed in case the situation improves.
The move comes on the day the Centre raised concern over the pandemic situation in Chandigarh.
The UT again recorded 300+ cases on Tuesday, with 319 people testing positive. Two deaths were also reported. While more than 1,700 cases have been added to the tally within six days this month, the number of active cases has bumped up to 3,037, among the highest since the outbreak last March.
Though 25,375 of the 28,798 people tested positive so far have been cured and discharged, recovery rate has dropped to 88%. On February 13, when the UT had lowest number of active cases (123) this year, recovery rate was 97.7%.
‘Big jump in cases for a small UT’
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, during a media briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday, flagged Chandigarh as the only area of concern among small states and union territories.
Bhushan said that Chandigarh is a small UT in terms of population as well as area, but Covid-19 cases being reported daily have gone up from less than 20 on an average to 287, while average deaths have remained between 1 to 3.
While noting that positivity rate has climbed to 14%, the health secretary appreciated the fact that the share of RT-PCR tests as compared to the lesser reliable antigen tests has increased to 81%.
Even on March 24, the Union health ministry had listed Chandigarh among eight states and UTs that have led to an exponential increase in the number of active cases in the country.
In response to this, the Centre had deputed a three-member team in the city to assist the local administration. It has observed that contact tracing and vaccination coverage need to be improved, though no formal report has been submitted yet.
Get tested, vaccinated: Badnore
During the review meeting, Badnore expressed serious concern over the rising numbers.
He appealed to market associations to ensure that their employees are tested and vaccinated, as provisions for both are available at government centres for free.
He also directed hospitals to ensure that all health workers get themselves vaccinated at the earliest, as the administration is considering withdrawal of priority to frontline workers soon. Coverage stands at 54% and 60% among healthcare and other frontline workers, respectively.
While urging eligible citizens to get vaccinated, he directed all to avoid non-essential travel outside the city, keeping in view the high rate of infection spread all over the country.
Dr Jasbinder Kaur, director principal, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, informed Badnore that many patients from Punjab and Haryana who can be easily treated in their district hospitals are unnecessarily travelling to Chandigarh and crowding the hospital beds. She said Sood Dharamshala in Sector 22 will be opened on Wednesday to take care of mild Covid cases.
Municipal commissioner KK Yadav said 52 teams have been constituted to conduct sanitation operations across the city and MC teams are tracing on an average 15 contacts of each positive case. The central team had recently told the UT to increase this number of 25-30.
28 new micro-containment zones, total reaches 75
The Chandigarh administration on Tuesday declared 28 more micro-containment zones in the city.
With this, the total has increased to 75 within a month, said Arun Gupta, UT home secretary, during the Covid-19 review meeting.
Deputy commissioner Mandip Singh Brar said the affected areas were identified by a committee on the basis of the number of cases being reported from there.
While three micro-containment zones have been declared in Sectors 28 and 30, there are two each in Sectors 22, 27, 41 and 44 besides Manimajra (Pipliwala Town and Uppal Apartments). Others are spread across Sectors 10, 11, 19, 20, 46, 48 and 63 besides Ram Darbar, Hallomajra, Kishangarh, Mauli Jagran and Dhanas.
Brar said regular screening and monitoring of the areas will continue and frequent sanitisation will be conducted. He also advised the residents to strictly maintain social distancing norms, wear masks and follow hand hygiene.
Helpline numbers issued
The administration has made Covid helpline for patients under home isolation operational at Chandigarh Housing Board office again. The numbers are 7657977818, 7657977819 and 7657977820.
Dedicated phone numbers of the help desk at GMSH, Sector 16, are 9779558282, 0172-2752038, 0172-2720105 and 0172-27228703.
