With Covid-19 cases showing a marked decline in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered the resumption of normal OPD service and elective surgeries, with extensive precautions in place. He, however, warned against any complacency given the projections of a possible second wave of the pandemic.
The Chief Minister has also allowed the opening of government schools from Monday (19th of October), after due sanitation and disinfection procedures, and with clear SOPs mandating parents’ consent, as well as a ceiling on the number of students and hours of operation. Some of the private schools in the state have opened on Thursday.
Expressing concern over the warnings by health and medical experts of the grave possibility of the second wave hitting the state in the festival season or during the winter months, the Chief Minister directed the concerned departments to take all steps to ensure that things remain under control in the festive times ahead.
The Chief Minister, who was chairing a virtual review meeting of the Covid-19 situation, also asked the departments to ensure that the medical staff is kept motivated and all vacancies of technicians, etc. are filled up immediately so that normal OPD services and elective surgeries can be carried out seamlessly amid the pandemic situation.
Secretaries of the Health and Medical Research Departments briefed the Chief Minister on the steps being taken to ensure full precautions in OPDs, Wards and Operation Theatres as per SoPs and guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control. DGP Dinkar Gupta told the meeting that Punjab Police was gearing up to manage the festival season, during which security would be beefed up and all efforts would be made to ensure strict adherence to Covid norms at market places, Ramlilas, etc. The DGP said the police were also currently focused on handling the increasing number of farmer protests, as well as picketing by BJP and RSS.
Even as he termed the decline in positivity rate to 2.60 as a good sign, Dr. KK Talwar, head of the state government’s expert advisory committee on health, warned of a second wave hitting Punjab during the festival season.