Form 'mini containment zone' for over five Covid cases: Himachal CM

The frequency of testing should be increased and people should be encouraged to vaccinate themselves, he said urging the local bodies and NGOs to come forward and help the state government to educate people in fight against the resurge of Coronavirus which is more potent and deadly than the last year.

He was pressing over a virtual meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in Kangra and Chamba districts after the new surge of the pandemic.

Thakur said that the number of active cases has been on a rise in both the districts and the persons under home isolation should be monitored regularly.

They should be guided properly to keep their morale high and should be provided thermometer, oximeters and medicines by the health authorities, he said.

Keeping in view the increasing number of new patients, bed capacity at Tanda Medical College should be increased. The death rate carried by the second wave is highly alarming and is not sparing even younger people. Last day, also, nine deaths were reported across the State.

The Chief Minister said that keeping the Navraatees in view, all devotees visiting temples and other religious places should avoid overcrowding and their effective regulation should also be ensured.

The State Government has allowed temples to remain open, but at the same time organizing langars, bhandaras and kirtans have been banned.

Strict guidelines have been issued following the decision of the State Cabinet to check the entry of people from seven high load states sans a negative RT-PCR report into HP.

All the visitors coming to the state will have to carry a negative report, which should not be older than 72 hours from any of the recognized ICMR centres.

Thakur said that the newly elected members of the PRIs must work pro-actively and constantly to help their localities in dealing with this dreadful virus.
They should take a lead to educate the public to strictly adhere to the SoPs issued by the Government from time to time.

He said that they should encourage the public and ensure that they wear face masks properly and adopt Covid-19 apt behaviour including social distancing, sanitization and avoid public places unless it is too urgent.