Punjab extends curfew till May 1, CM hints Punjab moving into community transmission stage

The Punjab government on Friday extended the curfew across the state till May 1. The decision was taken by state Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh through video conference to check community transmission of the Coronavirus pandemic in Punjab.

With the extension in the curfew, Punjab has become second state, after Odisha, to have taken a decision in this context. Earlier, Punjab was the first to clamp curfew a day ahead of lockdown announced by the Union government.

The Chief Minister also pointed out that reporting of 27 positive cases of the deadly virus in a day (Thursday) was an indication of Punjab moving into the stage of community transmission, an official spokesperson informed.

The CM said that the situation could seriously worsen in the coming weeks. “The predictions are horrendous, but we are doing our best,” Capt. Amarinder Singh said, adding that while currently the numbers were low in Punjab than most other states, it cannot remain isolated as the pandemic spreads further.

Taking to social media (Facebook and Twitter), Amarinder Singh wrote: ‘Given the seriousness of the situation arising out of COVID-19, the Cabinet has decided to extend lockdown & curfew in Punjab till 1st May. These are difficult times and I appeal to all fellow Punjabis to stay home & stay safe and strictly observe all health safeguards as you have done so far, for which I am thankful.’

The Chief Minister said the projections by scientists and medical experts suggested that the pandemic would peak in India by July-August, and around 58 per cent of Indians would get infected, with 87 per cent of people likely to get affected in Punjab. In the circumstances, no government could afford to ease the restrictions and asserted that spread of the infections has to be checked. The state’s preparations would be aligned to these projections, he added.

Capt. Amarinder Singh said his government was gearing up for every eventuality, and had planned for making arrangements in four phases – for 2000 patients, 10000 patients, 30000 patients and 1 lakh patients needing isolation and treatment. While ventilators, masks etc were sufficient for the present, more had been ordered and would start coming in the next few days, he added. On PPE kits, the Chief Minister said with two Ludhiana manufacturers getting approval for making such kits, the state would start getting 5000 of them a day from Monday and could provide the excess to other states directly or through the Government of India. As for medical staff, he said retired doctors had volunteered in large numbers and were on standby to help out.

With regard to testing, the Chief Minister admitted that the 2877 tests conducted so far were simply not enough, given Punjab’s population of 2.8 crore. Testing was a constraint as only two hospitals in Punjab were given permission to test initially, along with PGI Chandigarh, but one more was now being added along with two private labs, he added. With 25,000 Rapid Testing Kits also expected to arrive, mass testing in hotpots will also begin from Monday, he said. In the next few days, the health department would get more aggressive with testing and random testing will be done in areas of concentration, he said.

On the contribution of Tablighi Jamaat to the spread of the pandemic in Punjab, the Chief Minister revealed that his government had received a list of 651 who had entered the state, and of these, 636 had so far been traced and 27 found positive (including 10 contacts of these TJ Nizamuddin attendees).

Among the nearly 1.5 lakh NRIs and foreign returnees, the state had traced and quarantined the majority, said the CM, adding that the quarantine period was over in 33166 cases of foreign travel.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also proposed to the Union government setting up of a Rs 550 crore Advanced centre for Virology in Punjab and offered government land free of cost.

Capt Amarinder Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to set up the proposed centre, which would focus on addressing regional, national and global needs in virology, diagnostic, research and therapeutic evaluations to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

He proposed a specialised centre in Medicity, New Chandigarh, which would be well placed to serve the interests of the North-Western region given Chandigarh’s international air connectivity. The Centre could easily be incubated in PGIMER, Chandigarh, which is located only 7-8 kilometres from the proposed Medicity, the CM said.

Pointing to the unprecedented crisis faced by the country, the Chief Minister noted that the sudden onset of this virus illness and its acquiring pandemic proportions in a matter of only two months have drawn attention towards the need to devote greater resources of the government  on cutting-edge research in the field of virology. At present, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune is the only institution in the country capable of providing a well-coordinated medical and public health response to such an emergency, he added.