India

Coronavirus: Punjab Extends curfew till May 1

Published

10 months ago

April 10, 2020

Coronavirus: Punjab Extends curfew till May 1

The Punjab Government on Friday decided to extend the curfew in the state till May 1, 2020. This decision was taken at a state cabinet meeting today and comes at a time when Punjab is seeing a rapid rise in the number of Covid-19 cases that has already crossed the 100-mark in the state.

Captain Amarinder will convey the decision to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Saturday’s conference with the chief ministers, according to an official spokesperson.

India Today reported, Citing the grim projections about the spread of the pandemic in the coming weeks, the Chief Minister said the curfew restrictions were essential so that the medical infrastructure is not burdened beyond its capabilities.

There was general consensus in the medical community that the lockdown curbs would only delay the spread of the disease, he said, hoping that some medication/cure would be found soon.

The government has also decided to set up a multi-disciplinary task force to formulate an exit strategy for gradual relaxation of curfew/lockdown.

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The task force will submit its report within 10 days. The task force will have about 15 members representing trade, business, industry, agriculture, civil society and health care professionals.

The Council Ministers also resolved to urge upon Government of India to establish an Advance Center of Virology in Punjab with an anticipated investment of Rs 500 crore, with the state government to offer land free of cost for the project.

For the quick upgradation of the state’s health infrastructure to combat the current crisis, the Cabinet set up a task force under the Principal Secretary, PWD, to look into it.

Principal, Secretary, TCA and MD, Punjab Health Systems Corporation will be other members of the task force, which will carry out the task of quick upgradation of health infrastructure in a time-bound manner. The Chief Minister asked the Health Department to submit a detailed proposal for this, indiatimes reported.