Appreciating Punjab’s COVID-19 micro-containment and house-to-house surveillance strategy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all other States to adopt the model.
A Punjab government statement on Tuesday stated that the Prime Minister intervened as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was describing the State’s model suggested that all States should follow the same strategic approach to effectively counter the novel coronavirus challenge.
Mr. Modi was conducting a videoconference with 21 Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of States and Union Territories as part of his scheduled two-day interaction to review the COVID-19 situation and management strategies across the country.
During the meeting, Capt. Amarinder suggested to the Prime Minister to set up a group, which should include a few Chief Ministers, to discuss and formulate a coordinated Centre-State response to the devastating impact of the virus on the economy and governments across the country, added the statement.
The Chief Minister, according to the statement, said a detailed memorandum had already been sent to the Government of India, listing out the impact of COVID-19 and also seeking fiscal and non-fiscal assistance. He requested for release of the State’s pending share of taxes to tide over the fiscal crisis. The crisis in Punjab was likely to be acute with around ₹25,000-30,000 crore shortfall in revenue collection on various counts, he said.
Emphasising the need for more tests, despite the current 5,527 tests per 10 lakh population in Punjab being higher than the all-India average of 4,088, Capt. Amarinder reiterated his request for direction to Central institutions in Chandigarh and Punjab to increase their testing capacity.
He said the State government was working on a multi-pronged strategy to fight the pandemic. Some restrictions have been imposed on weekends and holidays, and strict enforcement of all protocols was being ensured through fines, he said. The focus is currently on a micro-containment strategy to isolate small ‘mohallas’ or villages rather than close down larger areas, he said.
104 fresh cases
The videoconference came on a day Punjab recorded 104 fresh COVID-19 cases and reported one more death, taking the tally of fatalities to 72. The patient who died was from Ludhiana district.
An official statement said the overall number of positive cases in the State is now 3,371. The major chunk of new cases, 31 and 22, were reported from Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts respectively. The Health department said the active cases are 838 and 2,461 patients have recovered so far.
