CM directs officials to increase chalans for violating mask discipline

Gurugram: With the city recording an uptick in coronavirus infections since the beginning of March, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday directed the district administration to strictly implement the challans against people violating the mask and social distancing rules

Gurugram: With the city recording an uptick in coronavirus infections since the beginning of March, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday directed the district administration to strictly implement the challans against people violating the mask and social distancing rules. He also directed officials to keep an eye on large gatherings and crowding at public places such as markets.

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Gurugram reported 184 new Covid-19 cases on Friday — the highest per day infections in the past three months. (PLS CHECK)

“Action has to be taken against people violating mask discipline. It has been directed by the CM to strictly challan people not wearing masks in public places. Testing and contact tracing will also be increased in the district to identify areas where infection has been prevalent,” deputy commissioner Yash Garg, who attended the meeting with the CM, said quoting Khattar.

Officials said after a consistent decline in the fresh cases, people were fatigued with the pandemic discipline and turned complacent throwing caution to the wind. It has led to a dramatic increase in cases over the last two weeks, they said.

On Friday, the total active case count in the city reached 742 and the total tally was at 60,385. The death toll due to the viral infection was at 360. According to the chief medical officer, Dr Virender Yadav, the test positivity rate — positive cases out of the total samples tested — has hit 3%. The union ministry health and family welfare data shows that Gurugram is among the eight affected districts across Haryana which has noticed spike in cases.

In the last one week (March 13-19) at least 687 new infections have emerged compared to 474 reported between March 6 and 12.

Following the state government’s directions to focus upon test, track and treat strategy, the district health department has started administering 4,000 tests from Thursday onwards. But they have been undertaking vaccination on priority to cover maximum people vulnerable to contract coronavirus infection.

In the district task force meeting held on Friday, Yadav directed private hospitals to increase their vaccination coverage. “Antibodies against the coronavirus get developed in the body after 42 days of the first dose. Therefore, people should follow basic respiratory hygiene and wear masks to avoid getting infected,” said Yadav.

The surge in cases has become a concern as schools have reopened, with government schools particularly reporting a good turnout. Khattar has also directed that Covid-19 protocols should be followed in schools. Besides, appropriate arrangements for social distancing in agricultural mandis have to be done where procurement of mustard and wheat has been scheduled from April 1 onwards, Garg said.