Narendra Modi asks other states to adopt Punjab’s micro-containment, house-to-house surveillance strategies to contain COVID-19 outbreak

Chandigarh: Appreciating Punjab’s COVID micro-containment and house-to-house surveillance strategy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked all other states to adopt the model, which was helping Punjab successfully control the spread of the pandemic to a significant extent. The Prime Minister intervened as Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was describing the state’s model to combat COVID-19 and suggested that all states should follow the same strategic approach to effectively counter the virus, read an official statement. The Prime Minister was conducting a video conference meeting with chief ministers of Punjab and some other states, as part of his scheduled two-day interactions to review the COVID situation and management strategies of all the states. During the meeting, the Punjab Chief Minister suggested to the Prime Minister to set up a group, which should include a few chief ministers, to discuss and formulate a coordinated Centre and state response to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the economy and governments across the country. Calling for urgent steps to mitigate Punjab’s financial stress, the Chief Minister said that a detailed memorandum had already been sent to the central government, listing out the impact of COVID-19 and also seeking fiscal and non-fiscal assistance, the statement said. Even though Punjab’s contribution to the all-India cases was less than 1 percent (at 3,140 cases) at present, with a mortality rate of 2.1 percent and recovery rate of 75 percent, the curve was rising as a result of the inbound travellers and the easing of restrictions and more mixing of people, the Chief Minister said, giving a status update on the COVID-19 situation prevailing in the state. Emphasising the need for more tests, despite the current 5,527 tests per million in Punjab being higher than the all India average of 4,088, Singh reiterated his request to the Prime Minister to direct the Centre’s institutions in Chandigarh and Punjab to increase testing capacity. On the state’s preparedness to tackle the further spread of the pandemic, the Chief Minister informed the meeting that 5,000 isolation beds were ready in Government Level 2 and 3 facilities, in addition to 10,000-15,000 beds in Level 1 COVID Care Centres for mild patients. “These Level 1 beds can be scaled to 30,000 if the need arises,” he said.