Punjab to have plasma bank, CM gives nod

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 9

Even as Punjab prepares to launch its pilot Rapid Antigen Testing Project in five of the worst-affected districts beginning Friday, Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh today gave the go-ahead for a plasma bank under the supervision of Dr Neelam Marwaha, a former Head of the Blood Bank and Transfusion Medicine. The bank would serve as a ready inventory source for seriously ill patients and those at a high risk of contracting the Covid infection.

Tthe CM said he would write to the presidents of all registered political parties to seek their cooperation in checking large gatherings. Meanwhile, DGP Dinkar Gupta said the police had registered cases against some of parties for violation of Covid safety norms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pointing out that 258 cases had been reported on Wednesday, with 11 PCS and other senior officers, including CMO Sangrur, judges etc, infected so far, the Chief Minister stressed the need to raise the guard even further. Office staff, in particular, needs to be very careful, he stressed. He asked Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to issue SOPs for Government Officers’ meetings, visit to other offices etc, making it clear that spread of infection among critical manpower due to casual attitude was not acceptable.

Underlining the need for stricter enforcement of the safety rules, the Chief Minister directed the DGP not go soft on challans against violators. The meeting was informed that as many as 4882 challans were issued on Wednesday alone, mostly for not wearing masks. The Chief Minister shared that his government had decided, under Mission Fateh, to distribute 15 lakh masks among the poor, of which 1 lakh were currently being given out while orders had been placed for the remaining. Dinkar also disclosed that in view of the increase in number of cases, directions for sample testing in prisons had been issued.

Dinkar further revealed that the e-registration process that started from midnight on Monday for inbound travellers had already seen 31959 registrations, of which 4277 were from the hotspots (mainly Delhi).

Home Secretary Satish Chandra apprised the Chief Minister that the process of cancellation of FIRs registered against migrant workers for lockdown violation, as ruled by the Supreme Court, had begun in the state. The DCs and SSPs had been directed accordingly, he said.

Earlier, sharing details of the Rapid Antigen Testing set to start in the State for early detection and management of COVID-19 infections, Advisor (Health, Medical Education & Research) Dr KK Talwar said Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, & Patiala districts had been identified for the pilot. The test has a quick turnaround time of 30 minutes for results. On finalisation of rates for private hospitals, he said two rounds of meetings had already been held with the hospitals and another was scheduled for Monday, after which the rates can be fixed.

He further noted that even though the numbers and mortality figures for the state were lower than the national average and for many of the other states, the spread was worrying, with community resistance also being noted in certain areas of containment/micro-containment. Pointing to the increased testing in the state, Dr. Talwar said 15 Truenat Machines are operational at District Hospitals (Barnala, Bathinda, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Mansa, Moga, Sangrur, Muktsar, SBS Nagar, Ludhiana and Rupnagar). Order has been placed for another 15 such machines, which have a testing time of only 60 minutes.

Principal Secretary DK Tiwari, in his presentation, said the state’s mortality rate was currently 2.6% as against India’s 2.8%. He further disclosed that 70.8% of the Covid patients were Asymptomatic, 14.7 % Mild, 8.8 % Moderate and 5.6 % Severe.

Eom