UT plans to screen entire population for symptoms of coronavirus

Dushyant Singh Pundir
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 9

Leaving no stone unturned in fight against coronavirus, the UT Administration has decided to screen the entire population of the city for symptoms of coronavirus.

“House-to-house screening is being attempted firstly in areas in which positive cases were received. Slowly, the whole population is endeavoured to be covered over a period of time,” said Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary, Health, UT.

During the daily meeting, which was presided over by VP Singh Badnore, Administrator, UT, to review arrangements for COVID-19 prevention, Gupta stated that 55 teams have conducted door-to-door checking of 31,131 houses involving 54,354 persons in Sector 35, Sector 38, Dadu Majra and other areas to screen the residents and check whether any person is suffering from the symptoms of corona.

On this, Badnore directed Dr G Dewan, Director, Health Services, to intensify the effort so that the entire population is covered in short time. He also directed that the testing should also be scaled up.

So far, 18 positive cases have been reported from the city, out of which seven have already been discharged from the hospital.

Fortunately, no positive cases have been reported for the past six days. A total of 203 patients have been sampled for coronavirus in the city and 172 have been tested negative.

The administrator also directed that there should be no relaxation in implementing the curfew restrictions. He stated that a draft plan should be prepared for steps to be taken in the post-curfew period. He also desired that infection from neighbouring areas should be prevented by strict screening at border points and providing necessary sanitisation facilities in all public places.

Director General of Police Sanjay Beniwal stated that border points have been sealed. More than 2,000 vehicles have been seized for violation of curfew orders.

The administrator also sought the opinion of PGIMER doctors and the doctors from GMSH, Sector 16, and GMCH, Sector 32, regarding steps to be taken in post-lockout stage, in matter of curfew relaxation.

Manoj Parida, Adviser to the Administrator, stated that the Government of India has directed all states and UTs to smoothen the procurement of crops from the farmers.

He stated that necessary coordination was being made with the Food Corporation of India, so that there was no crowding in the Main Mandi.

The adviser also clarified that as per Government of India’s instructions, all donations to the Prime Minister Care Fund should be made directly in the designated account.

He further stated that some donors are sending cheques to the Deputy Commissioner, the Adviser and the Punjab Raj Bhawan directly, which should be avoided.

Badnore directed the adviser to inform the public regarding the procedure of direct contribution to the PM Care Fund.

Deputy Commissioner Mandip Singh Brar stated that 54,422 cooked food packets have been distributed to the destitute and needy people in various parts of the city. He also stated that an amount of Rs 1,51,91,237 has already been received in the Red Cross Account for local operations.

Finance Secretary AK Sinha stated that salary and wages of all employees have been released.

KK Yadav, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, stated that adequate streamlining has been done in Sector 26 wholesale mandi and a sanitisation tunnel has been introduced to sanitise every person at the entrance.

Efforts are being made to utilise the space available in Sector 39 to shift a few wholesalers there, so that there would be less crowd in the Main Mandi.