Admin asks residents not to panic even as Covid-19 cases rise rapidly

To reassure residents worried by the rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases across the district, the administration on Saturday said that there were adequate health care facilities in place and there was no need to panic. Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, Gurugram, said that shortcomings in hospitals or in sample-taking have been taken care of and adequate facilities are now available to take care of city residents.

Khatri said that the majority of patients are asymptomatic and don’t need hospitalisation or serious medical care. “Such patients can recuperate in isolation centres or at their homes and need to be observed by healthcare professionals from time to time,” he said, adding that this was why residents didn’t need to worry.

The deputy commissioner also said that a standard operating procedure for Covid-19 management would be issued soon to make people aware about what to do for patients in home isolation, what action to take in case a person living in the neighbourhood was reported positive and what kind of precautions people living in containment zones must take. Guidelines would also make it clear when testing has to be taken and when it would be appropriate to get admitted into a hospital.

Additionally, the district administration also said that residents can seek help via the helpline number 1950, which is operational 24X7. Officials also said that till date over one lakh persons have called the helpline and sought help or information from authorities pertaining to complaint resolution, online movement passes, registration of migrant and distribution of food and apart from matters has been done.

Additional commissioner Aprajita said that 40 operators were available 24 hours to attend to calls from city residents pertaining to various issues. She added that the operators would also provide detailed information related to Covid-19 protocols, provide food to needy people, and take up relevant matters with different departments.