Chandigarh, (Samajweekly) Amid projections of a second Covid-19 wave hitting Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday directed the Health and Medical Education Departments to maintain the levels of testing at 30,000 a day.
He also ordered amendment in rules to enable direct recruitment of super-specialist doctors to meet shortfall of medical staff.
Chairing a high-level virtual meeting to review the pandemic situation in the state, the Chief Minister asked Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to work on amending the rules for ensuring direct recruitment in super-speciality departments to prevent any weakening of the Covid battle.
He directed the departments concerned to ensure that at least 25,000 RT-PCR and 5,000 rapid antigen tests (RAT) are conducted every day without any laxity.
The current decline in cases notwithstanding, the situation remains grim with a second wave expected to hit the state, he said, stressing the need to strictly follow all safety and behavioural protocols.
Amarinder Singh directed Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta to crack down heavily on those not wearing masks or not adhering to social distancing and other norms.
Underlining the need to focus specially on potential super spreaders, he said that government employees must be tested routinely, and with schools and colleges opening up, it was important to make proper schedules and enhance the number of mobile teams for testing, he said.
Expressing concern over the high mortality rate in the state, the Chief Minister asked the medical experts team headed by K.K. Talwar to evolve effective strategies to tackle the problem.
Medical Education and Research Secretary D.K. Tiwari said positivity rate in Punjab has remained below two per cent since October 11.
In terms of deaths, those over 60 years of age constituted about 35 per cent while those with co-morbid conditions were 82.4 per cent of the total Covid deaths reported from November 1 to 7.
