Haryana may impose curbs in districts bordering Delhi, says health minister

Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the state government was planning to impose curbs in the districts bordering Delhi.

Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the state government was planning to impose curbs in the districts bordering Delhi.

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“Majority of the Haryana cases are concentrated in Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat and Jhajjar. So, we are discussing imposing restrictions to contain the spread of the virus. We will go ahead after considering all aspects,” he added.

Talking to reporters in Ambala, Vij said Haryana’s recovery rate is over 75 per cent, which is quite good. He added that adequate arrangements — including isolation facilities, doctors, medicines had been made to deal with the infection, which was growing at a rapid rate.

“Our priority is to treat these patients with the best of resources at our disposal. Still, the cases which are increasing, these are going up in districts adjoining Delhi. “Eighty per cent of our total cases come from these districts (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Jhajjar). If need arises, in the interest of Haryana, if we have to impose stricter curbs to contain spread of infection we will not hesitate to do so,” said Vij.

When asked if the state government could impose lockdown and other stricter measures in the worst-affected areas, Vij replied, “in Haryana’s interest, whatever is required to be done, I will do that.”

Gurugram till Tuesday had reported 160 new cases of Covid-19 cases, taking the total tally of infections to 7,126.

Of the total number of cases, 1,085 cases are currently active — slightly up from Monday’s tally of 1,051 cases. While 20 of them are currently hospitalised, 732 patients are recovering under home isolation. A total of 214 patients are under observation at various district Covid centres and dedicated Covid healthcare centres.

As per the data, until Tuesday evening, more than 70% (15,923) of Haryana’s cumulative number of positive cases (22,628) were from Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat and Rohtak districts.

Similarly, at least 57% (2,996) of the total active cases (5,226) are also in these four NCR districts.

The district on Tuesday also recorded 124 new recoveries — down from 80 the previous day. This takes the district’s cumulative recovery rate to 83%. Gurugram also recorded two new deaths on Tuesday, taking the toll to 109.The mortality rate in the district is nearly 1.5%.

Gurugram on Tuesday also collected 2,502 new samples for testing, up from 2,300 samples collected on Monday. Of these, 521 samples were taken by private labs for RT-PCR tests, while the rest of the samples were taken for the antigen tests being conducted by the health department. The district’s test-positivity rate (TPR) on Tuesday stood at 7%. The TPR has been hovering between 7% and 9% for the past two weeks now, said district health department officials.

“However, at around 11%, we are seeing a much higher TPR in Sohna, more than the urban areas of Gurugram,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram(CMO). He added that antigen testing in Sohna would be scaled up in the next two days, with the intention of isolating as many positive cases as possible. “Things are coming under control in other parts of the district, but large outbreak regions (LORs) will need to be kept under close watch for another couple of weeks at least,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)