Uttarakhand starting camps for Covid booster doses, says Pushkar Singh Dhami
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the state will start holding camps from Friday to provide booster dose of the Covic-19 vaccines to people
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government on Thursday decided to launch a campaign for booster doses, conduct genome sequencing of Covid-19 positive cases and activate its Covid control rooms in all districts.
“Start setting up camps from Friday to provide booster doses in the districts. Control rooms should be activated in all the districts. Also, genome sequencing should also be done in case of new cases of Covid”, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said after a meeting of senior officials.
The chief minister also instructed officials to encourage people to get their booster doses.
Dhami also asked chief secretary SS Sandhu to review the Covid situation at regular intervals and requisition more doses if required. “Full availability of all necessary resources should be maintained”, he said.
Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat said the state’s population has been given the first and second doses of Covid vaccine and a massive campaign will be launched for the booster dose.
Director general, health, Dr Shailja Bhatt said only four fresh cases have been reported in the state, who are receiving treatment at their homes. “But we are increasing our preparedness at all levels. We have 86 oxygen plants and around 8,000 beds. The beds have not been segregated yet for Covid patients on a mass level as hospitalisation has not started. But we will review the situation daily and take decisions accordingly”, she said
Dr R Rajesh Kumar, health secretary said he held a virtual meeting with all the chief medical officers in the state and reviewed the Covid preparedness in the state. He said CMOs and district magistrates have been apprised about the guidelines that need to be followed, especially ensuring genome sequencing of positive cases and keeping a tab on the spread of Covid-19 in their respective districts.
“As many countries such as Japan, USA, Korea, and China have registered an increase in the number of Covid-19 patients, Covid-19 is again emerging as a challenge, especially with its new variants. So it is important to monitor existing variants and ensure the Centre’s guidelines released in June 2022 regarding the ‘Operational Guideline for Revised Surveillance Strategy in Context of Covid 19’ be adhered to”, he said.
Four Covid positive cases were reported in the state on Wednesday. Since January 1, the state has reported 1.04 lakh Covid cases and 333 deaths.