Omicron scare: Shopkeepers, daily wage earners fear another lockdown

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 3

Likelihood of another lockdown in view of the recent spurt in Covid-19 cases amid the Omicron threat has panicked the residents, especially shopkeepers and the traders’ community, as they see it as another blow to the economic prospects.

The district has reported a total of 55 positive cases in the last five days. The rise in the number of positive cases is in sharp contrast to the scenario during the last three months when on average the district had removed merely 25 cases per month.

A shopkeeper Ravinder Kumar said, “The third wave of Covid was being anticipated for a long time. Now it seems that it has finally come. With it would also come the restrictions on the movement and on the opening and closing timings of shops.” He said that the small shopkeepers would not be able to survive another lockdown like situation.

Though the situation in the district is much better than many other districts of the state, the residents feel that the city being a popular tourist destination with a large number of international passengers arriving daily, the Covid-19 tally would increase in near future.

“During the first as well as the second Covid wave, the district had been reporting a maximum number of cases daily. In the present scenario, it was reporting fewer cases but now it seems that the situation is reversing,” said a health official, adding that people would have to take the infection more seriously. icted

During the previous two rounds of lockdowns followed by restricted timings of business, the small-time shopkeepers and daily wage earners were hit hard as their livelihood was threatened. Even the general public was inconvenienced as the availability of essential items was affected.

In the first set of instructions issued by the district administration in view of the increase in the positive cases, Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira has instructed the public to wear face masks at public places, workplaces and while using the public transport. The DC has also asked the public to maintain a social distance of six feet at public places. The administration also asked the health employees not to abstain from their duty.

1.2L children eligible for jab in dist

The district Health Department today initiated Covid-19 vaccination drive for the children aged between 15-18 years age group at four vaccination centres, including Government Medical College and the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital. An event to mark the inauguration of the vaccination drive was held at the Civil Hospital speaking during which Deputy Chief Minister Om Parkash Soni said a total of 1.20 lakh children in the age group have been identified in the district.

He added that a total of 14 lakh children in the state would be covered under the immunisation drive. The Health Department added that the number of vaccination centres for the children would be increased in the coming days. The department has also ensured to set up separate queues for the children at each of the vaccination centers. The officials claimed that 85% of the population above 85 years of age has already received first dose while 45% have been completely vaccinated.

Covid: 20 new cases reported in dist

With 20 fresh positive cases reported on Monday, the total count of cases from the district has increased to 47,519. The health authorities also reported the recovery of one patient, with which the total recovery count has increased to 45,859. The district, at present, has a total of 61 active cases. Meanwhile, a total of 11,101 residents were inoculated during the vaccination drive on Monday. Of these, 5,181 received the first dose of the vaccine while 5,920 residents received the second dose.