Chandigarh, April 13, 2021: The night curfew timing has been changed. From Tuesday, the curfew will be imposed in Chandigarh from 10 pm to 5 am. Until now, the night curfew timing was from 10:30 pm to 5 am.
The curfew timing has been changed in the City Beautiful for the second time. In a meeting presided by UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore, it was also decided that the Sukhna Lake area to remain closed on weekends.
The meeting was attended by Sh. Manoj Parida, Adviser to the Administrator & Sh. Sanjay Beniwal, Director General of Police at Punjab Raj Bhawan. Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary Home, Sh. KK Yadav, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Sh. Mandip Singh Brar, Deputy Commissioner, UT & Deputy Commissioners of Mohali & Panchkula, Director, PGIMER, Director Principal, GMCH & Director Health Services, GMSH-16 attended through Video Conferencing.
After detailed discussions with the doctors and senior officers, the following decisions were taken in the War Room:-
(a) The night curfew will be imposed from 10:00 PM to 05:00 in the entire city. All non-essential travelers will be prohibited.
(b) The limit for political, social and religious gathering will be restricted to 200 outdoor and 100 indoor, as has already been notified.
(c) The Rock Garden will remain closed until further orders.
(d) Sukhna Lake area will remain closed on all weekends until situation improves.
10. The War Room also considered the option of closing markets on alternate numbers, as was done last year. However, the decision was deferred keeping in view the economic needs of trade and industry.
War Room discussions:
Dr. Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER stated that they have 223 covid cases in Nehru Extension Block, out of which 58 belong to Chandigarh, 92 to Punjab, 39 to Haryana, 17 to Himachal Pradesh and 08 from other states. He also mentioned that they have tested 8,775 covid samples, out of which 1,092 were found positive. Thus, the positivity rate was 12%.
Hon’ble Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT directed them to enhance beds’ capacity for corona patients. He also advised that RT-PCR results should be on time, so that infection could be restricted.
Dr. Jasbinder Kaur, Director Principal, GMCH-32 stated that they have tested 5,514 covid samples, out of which 509 were found positive with the positivity rate of 9.2%. She mentioned that 72% of their health workers have been vaccinated.
Hon’ble Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT directed to enhance beds’ capacity in Sector 48 Hospital to accommodate more cases.
Dr. Amandeep Kang, Director of Health Services stated that they have tested 20,688 covid samples, out of which 2668 were found positive. She mentioned that there was a positivity rate of 12%. The Director also mentioned that 07 mobile teams have been sent to various crowded places like railway stations, bus tands, etc. for screening and testing the visitors.
Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula stated that they have 1,345 active cases, Deputy Commissioner, Mohali stated that they have 4,996 active cases and Deputy Commissioner, UT, Chandigarh stated that they have 3,355 active cases.
Mandip Brar, Deputy Commissioner, UT, Chandigarh stated that they have already set up 65 containment zones and 30 new micro-containment zones will be added today. He also mentioned that 58,000 challans have been issued against the persons violating covid protocol.
Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT, Chandigarh expressed serious concern about the rising number of covid cases.
He appealed to the residents to take advantage of Tika Utsav and get themselves vaccinated. He specifically directed the health workers and front-line workers that they should take the advantage of present priority available to them, since such a facility may not continue longer.
The Administrator directed the Health Department to intensify screening and testing. He ordered the placing of mobile vans in crowded places like temples and gurdwaras during Navratri, so that the visitors could be screened and symptomatic persons could be tested immediately.
The Administrator directed Director General of Police to intensify operation to challan violators of the covid protocol. He appealed to the RWAs, Market Associations, NGOs and political leaders to help the Administration in its fight against the spread of corona infection.
The Administrator directed the Health Department to ensure that adequate stock of medicines, oxygen cylinders, vaccines, PPEs, ventilators, etc. are available in various government hospitals.
The Administrator expressed concern about the wastage of vaccines and directed all concerned, particularly the private hospitals to ensure that such valuable vaccines are not wasted. Advance planning should be done to ensure that such wastage remains minimal.
