Minister raises concern over rising Covid-19 cases in tricity

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

The Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has expressed his concern over rising number of Covid cases reported in the tricity. He was here to attend an inaugural ceremony at the PGIMER today.

“I have studied the data of cases being reported in this region. It is alarming to find that 500 to 600 cases are being reported in the Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula areas. Earlier, the number of cases had gone down to 20 to 30 per day in each city. People need to adhere to the Covid appropriate norms before cases start spiralling,” Dr Harsh Vardhan added.

“Residents of Chandigarh are well educated and such a behavior is not expected from them. There are seven to eight states in the country that comprise 80 per cent of the current infection,” Dr Harsh Vardhan added.

On being asked about expanding the eligibility criteria for the vaccination, Dr Harsh Vardhan informed, “A decision will be take in consultation with all the stakeholders. So far, the vaccination is available free of cost in the country. The Finance Minister has also allocated Rs35,000 crore budget for the vaccination. More amount will be earmarked for the vaccination if the need arises.”

Chandigarh’s positivity rate has gone up to 9.2 per cent, the second-highest after Maharashtra. In the last week, the number of new infections has grown exponentially by an average of 0.73 per cent every day. The city has been reporting more than 200 cases for the four consecutive days.

Meanwhile, Mohali district recorded highest number of single day cases in the tricity with 385 persons contracting infection. With this, the district surpassed last single day spike. During the last surge, 274 single day infections were recorded in Mohali.