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PM Modi calls Uttarakhand CM, assures help for Covid-19 positive soldiers
Till Saturday, Uttarakhand reported 4,276 Covid-19 cases of which 3,081 people have recovered while 1,108 are still active.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat over the phone to enquire about Covid-19 infected soldiers in the state and gave necessary directions to curb the spread of the virus in the state, officials said.
The development came after CM Rawat on Saturday indicated that so far a total of “110 army personnel have tested positive for Covid-19 in the state out of which about 100 cases have emerged in the past 3 to 4 days”.
According to an official in the state secretariat privy to the development, “PM Modi spoke to CM Rawat in the afternoon in which he enquired about the health condition of the army personnel affected by Covid-19 virus.”
“During the conversation he asked the CM to provide every possible help to the army personnel in terms of treatment with proper coordination between the state government and army,” said the official.
He said the CM assured the Prime Minister of providing all possible help to the Covid-19 affected army personnel and said, “We are in constant touch with the army authorities and providing them with all the facilities required for treatment.”
On Saturday, the CM had said, “Contact tracing of the infected army personnel is being done which will not be so difficult as their travel history is specified.”
During the conversation with PM Modi, he informed him that in the past few days the number of cases in the state have increased but the “situation is under control”.
JC Pandey, public relations officer for the Uttarakhand health department said that the health department is tracing the contacts of army personnel who have tested positive to ensure the virus doesn’t spread further among their families.
Ten army personnel had tested positive on July 18, eight on July 1, one army staff tested positive on June 30 and two army personnel tested positive on June 13. In April, an army doctor had tested positive for Covid-19 from Chakrata area in Dehradun.
Later on Sunday evening the CM informed about the measures being taken to curb the spread including increasing the number of tests and surveillance.
“The surveillance has been increased with the help of ASHA and Aanganwadi workers by moving house to house to check if anyone has any symptoms of the virus,” he said.
“In Uttar Kashi district surveillance has been done four times. In other districts including Nainital, Rudraprayag, Almora, Chamoli and Tehri Garhwal, it has been completed three times while in Bageshwar, Champawat, Pauri Garhwal and US Nagar it has been done twice. In the remaining three districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Pithoragarh, it has been done once,” said Rawat.
On increasing the number of tests in the state, he said, “This week 2,487 samples were collected every day for testing in comparison to 1,660 samples taken per day last week. Also, our testing rate per million is 9,981 which is significant.”
Till Saturday, Uttarakhand reported 4,276 Covid-19 cases of which 3,081 people have recovered while 1,108 are still active. Total number of deaths due to Covid-19 is 52 in the state.
