Don’t panic or despair but observe precautions, State prepared to handle situation: Chief Secy

As anticipated earlier, the number of Covid-19 positive cases has seen a sharp rise in recent days and is likely to rise further in the coming days. However, the State Government is fully prepared and citizens should not despair. The public should observe necessary precautions and stay safe, said the chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh. He said that since there is no specific cure or vaccine for Covid-19 at present, the virus is expected to remain for sometime in the future. Balanced, calibrated action along with monitoring and observance of necessary precautions are to be followed while facilitating various activities.

Addressing the media, Singh said, “Along with the rest of India, Covid-19 positive cases are rising in Uttarakhand too, which was anticipated. People do not need to panic or despair as the state government is fully prepared and capable of tackling the situation as the surge was expected. We have adequate number of hospital beds, ICUs, ventilators and other necessary resources. Our doctors and health workers are doing a great job and we expect the positive cases to subside in about a fortnight. Meanwhile, the citizens need to observe necessary precautions- go outdoors only if necessary and then too maintain social distancing and wear masks apart from ensuring hygiene.”

He further said that the mortality rate among positive cases in Uttarakhand is still less than many other states. As per the government parameters, the situation in Uttarakhand is not yet critical though the doubling rate has dropped in recent days. According to the latest ICMR guidelines, if any Covid-19 patient doesn’t display any symptoms for 10 days and doesn’t have fever during the last three of those 10 days, the patient can be discharged as it is considered that there is no risk of such a patient spreading contagion.

Regarding migrants, he said that more than 2.47 lakh had registered for returning to Uttarakhand and out of these, more than 1.54 lakh have returned to the state. In the next few days, trains are being planned to bring back Uttarakhandis from Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. He reiterated that all those returning to the state must strictly follow the mandatory home quarantine, failing which action would be taken against them. Referring to resumption of domestic flights from Monday, Singh said that the state government has released the standard operating procedure for this. A total of seven flights on Delhi-Dehradun, Mumbai-Dehradun and Pantnagar-Dehradun routes will start operating from Monday. All necessary precautions will be observed in the facilitation of domestic air travel, he said.

The chief secretary further informed that more than 4,500 industrial units had resumed operations while work had also started at more than 6,000 construction sites. While more than 2.20 lakh people have received work under MNREGA, about 8,000 new workers have registered under the scheme with 5,000 of them receiving work. He said that though the forest fire season is currently underway, the situation has not escalated so far. Till date there have been 46 incidents that have affected 51 hectare land area, he added.