E-Paper
Bihar cancels leave of all healthcare workers as Covid-19 infections rise
New cases of Covid-19 which had fallen to six districts of the 38 in Bihar, had also gradually climbed up to 26 districts by Thursday.
The Bihar government has cancelled leaves of health staff, including doctors, nurses and paramedics till April 5 with immediate effect, amid rising cases of Covid-19 and indications of a second wave of the pandemic in the state.
The health department, in its order March 17, cancelled leaves of all medical officers, up to the level of director-in-chief, principal and superintendents and junior residents of medical college hospitals and director of special medical institutions.
The order is also applicable for all healthcare workers, paramedical staff, nurses, operation theatre assistants, laboratory technicians and fourth grade staff. However, those on study and maternity leave have been excluded from the purview of the order.
Healthcare workers on leave have been asked to report to duty as soon as possible.
The leaves had been cancelled to maintain special vigil and surveillance to contain the spread of the second wave of the pandemic, said the government order, issued by Anil Kumar, joint secretary, health department, on Wednesday.
Bihar had earlier cancelled leaves of all healthcare workers between March 13 and August 30, last year.
New cases of Covid-19 have risen from 22 reported in a day on March 1 to 107 on Thursday. New cases, which had ebbed to six districts of the 38 in Bihar, had also gradually climbed up to 26 districts by Thursday.
On Wednesday, chief minister Nitish Kumar, following the interaction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Ministers on the Covid-19 situation, said the state government had decided to increase the number of daily tests to detect infections. Bihar had tested 59,076 samples on Thursday out of which 405 were found to be active cases.
Bihar, which has reported 263,265 Covid-19 cases with 1,555 deaths so far, has a recovery rate of 99.26%.
