Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that he was not proposing a lockdown, which leads to exodus of migrant labour and economic woes. However, other stringent steps were being taken to manage the escalating COVID-19 crisis.
He said Punjab reported over 7000 cases on April 25 and the situation was expected to worsen, especially in south Punjab, amid the rising cases in neighbouring States.
The Chief Minister, who was presiding over a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation, directed the Health department to follow up with the Centre for vaccine supplies, as the State presently had a stock of only 1.76 lakh Covishield and 22000 Covaxin doses.
On reports that certain health-medical workers’ organisations had threatened strike, the Chief Minister made it clear that such threats would be met with dismissal “as we cannot tolerate this kind of nonsense in a war-like situation”.
The meeting was informed by Secretary, Industries, Alok Shekhar, that Jalandhar and Amritsar had been facing a crisis situation on the oxygen front for the past few days, which the State had handled through judicious management. The State government was making all efforts to secure medical oxygen to supplement its depleting stocks.
Separately, after Chief Minister’s plea for help, the Western Command of the Indian Army on Monday extended all possible help, including medical staff and medically trained combatants, to meet the shortage in hospitals. It will also help revive defunct oxygen plants in the State.
At a virtual meeting of the Chief Minister with senior Command officials, Lt. Gen. R.P. Singh, AVSM, VSM, GOC-in-C, Western Command, offered to provide staff to run the 100-bed COVID-19 facility proposed to be set up in the building loaned to the State government by the CSIR.
The Chief Minister said the government was also approaching the Union Home Ministry to provide manpower and ICU beds through the Border Security Force (BSF).
Published - April 27, 2021 01:37 am IST
