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Punjab CM orders Covid-19 testing to be increased to 2 lakh per day
India, meanwhile, surpassed the United States to become the fastest Covid-19 vaccinating country in the world, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
The government in Punjab, one of the states badly-hit by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, has asked health authorities to increase the number of people being vaccinated every day. The order has been issued by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who set a target of 2 lakh tests per day.
Currently, 90,000 people are being inoculated in the state per day.
The chief minister also directed the officials to increase the sampling to 50,000 per day, besides vigorously pursuing contact tracing to 30 people per positive patient.
The government has taken this action as the state's positivity rate and case fatality rate (CFR) have gone significantly up in the last week. While the positivity rate has reached 7.7 per cent, the CFR stands at 2 per cent.
This direction is in addition to the extension of night curfew in the entire state. The state government on Wednesday imposed a statewide night curfew from 9pm to 5am till April 30. This was in place only in 12 districts till now. Political gatherings have also been banned till the time restrictions are in place and violators, including political leaders, will be booked under Disaster Management Act(DMA) and Epidemics Act, the Punjab government order said.
The state government is also launching an awareness campaign to tell the patients who test positive for Covid-19 to reach hospitals at early stages. The order was passed by the chief minister at a review meeting to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the state.
India, meanwhile, surpassed the United States to become the fastest Covid-19 vaccinating country in the world, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. On an average, 30,93,861 vaccine doses are being given every day, the ministry said.
Also Read: What is driving India’s second Covid-19 wave?
The seven-day average for the US is also above the three million-mark, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC). On Saturday, however, the US inoculated 4.1 million people, the highest since the vaccination began there late last year. The country has so far vaccinated 31 per cent of its population, according to the CDC.
In India, the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered has crossed 8.70 crore. More than 33 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours, the health ministry data showed.
