PUNJAB HEALTH DEPT ISSUES ADVISORY FOR BARBER SHOPS IN VIEW OF COVID-19

Punjab Health Department on Sunday, issuing detailed advisory for maintaining of hygiene and sanitization of barber shops or hair-cut saloons during the Covid-19 pandemic, has asked the shop owners to ensure there would be no overcrowding.

Department’s spokesperson said that shop owners would have to ensure that any staff member, having symptoms of Covid-19 (like fever, dry cough, breathing difficulty, etc), is not engaged at work and stays at home on sick medical advice. Similarly, no client having such symptoms should be attended.

“All clients should be asked to avail services unaccompanied unless necessary (such as parent or guardian). It should be ensured by the owners that there is no unnecessary crowding barber shops/hair cut saloons,” the spokesperson added.

Spokesperson said that the clients must use the mask to extent possible while availing services, while the owners and staff working in such shops will mandatorily use mask.

“All guidelines related to prevention of Covid-19 like frequent hand washing (with soap and water or alcohol based hand sanitizer), maintaining a physical distance of one meter, following respiratory hygiene, keeping a watch over disease symptoms, no spitting in public etc must be complied with during the interpersonal dealing of clients and staff, the advisory stipulates,” said the spokesperson.

In addition, the shop owners should encourage the customers to use the digital payment mode as much as possible. In case cash transaction is used, the shopkeeper, staff and clients shall sanitize their hands immediately before and after cash transaction.

Regarding proper cleaning at shops, indoor areas including service rooms, waiting areas, workstations etc should be cleaned preferably every two-three hours. Floors should be cleaned with one percent Sodium Hypochlorite or equivalent commercial disinfectant. Furniture and frequently touched surfaces and articles should be regularly cleaned or sanitized.

“Tools (scissors, razors, combs, styling tools) should be wiped with one percent Sodium Hypochlorite after every use.  Robes, towels and related items should be clean and regularly washed robes, towels etc, and should not be reused for multiple clients,” added the spokesperson.

PUNJAB DEVISES TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS TO PROVIDE CITIZEN-CENTRIC SERVICES DURING LOCKDOWN

Punjab Government’s Department of Governance Reforms and Public Grievances (DGR&PG) has been proactively engaged in providing technology solutions to the Punjab Government amid unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic.

The Department developed solutions to manage, share and analyze data as well as to provide seamless essential citizen-centric services efficaciously during the lockdown,” said the state Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Governance Reforms and Public Grievances, Vini Mahajan on Sunday.

She said that that the IT team, under the supervision of e-Governance CEO Ravi Bhagat and DGR&PG director Parminder Pal Singh had been tasked to build and implement technology solutions to help the State Government in this difficult phase.

“The entire team worked relentlessly to develop these unique solutions through its dedicated and innovative approach. The teams built and launched the COVA App in March 2020 which has 23 lakh downloads till date, to track the spread of the pandemic, geo tag patients to identify clusters, geo fence quarantined individuals and provide citizen services before any other Government or organization had launch a similar solution,” said Mahajan.

She said that as many as 11 States requested for access to admin logins to the COVA App and Dashboard such that they could use the features of the application to manage services in their respective States as well.

“Partnering with multiple agencies, start-ups and organizations who were willing to provide pro bono support to the Department, the IT team has implemented several dashboards for data collection and integration including for registration of migrant workers, registration of citizens willing to come back to or leave Punjab among others,” she added.

This team has been consistently offering IT support to the Departments of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education and Research, State Covid-19 Control Room as well as to the Punjab Mandi Board.

PBTI OFFERS 15% DISCOUNT ON TESTING OF AGRI-PRODUCTS TO PUNJAB-BASED EXPORTERS

To boost export of agri-products amid COVID-19 restrictions, Punjab Biotechnology Incubator (PBTI) has approved a flat 15 percent discount on all product testing facilities in PBTI facility for registered Punjab-based exporters besides introducing special packages to further support the exporter community.

Notably, PBTI is providing testing services such as Residue Analysis, Microbial Analysis, Adulterants and Food Additive analysis, which form an important part of stringent export guidelines of international locations such as European Union.

“Major exports from the State during the lockdown period are rice, honey, milk and milk products to key markets such as European Union, UK and UAE and the relief extended by the Incubator would be immensely beneficial for all agri and food exporters,” said the spokesperson.

PBTI labs have also facilitated the Punjab exporters of essential goods during the lockdown to ensure uninterrupted supply of their goods due to increased demand from European countries.