The Himachal Pradesh government is considering reopening of temples in the state for which Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) would be prepared to facilitate the devotees.

Addressing the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police and Chief Medical Officers through video conferencing from Shimla on Tuesday, Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur said the Deputy Commissioners have been directed to simplify the process of entry to the state but at the same time the process of e-pass would remain in force.

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He said that the government is ensuring that development in the state does not affect due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure that doctors and other para medical staff involved in treatment of COVID-19 patients use complete protection against the virus.

Thakur said that asymptomatic patients should be kept in home isolation. He said that health workers should regularly visit such patients for their medical check up.

He said that better quarantine facility must also be provided for doctors and other para medical staff. He said that industrial units must be asked to create their own quarantine facilities with a minimum 10 percent of total strength of their employees. He said that small industrial units must be encouraged to create such facilities by pooling.

Thakur said till date 214182 people had been tested for corona virus out of which 6116 had been found corona positive. He said that cases per lakh in Himachal Pradesh were 87.3 as compared to national average of 267.7 cases per lakh. He said that death rate in Himachal Pradesh was 0.58 per hundred cases which was quite low as compared to national average of 1.7 per hundred Covid19 cases.

The Chief Minister said that the Central government has provided 500 ventilators, 1.60 lakh PPE kits and over 3 lakh N-95 masks to the state for effectively fighting COVID-19 pandemic. He said regarding people accompanying patients and students/candidates, who need to move in and out of the state due to competitive examinations, their movement may be facilitated by waiving off the condition of quarantine, if they exit or reenter the state or vice versa within a period of 72 hours.

Thakur said the life of virus during the rainy season as per medical experts is longer, thus, greater caution must be adopted to check the corona pandemic.

He said that effective steps must be taken to check spread of the virus amongst corona warriors like doctors, paramedical staff, police and sanitary workers.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal said that we need to be more specific in testing facilities. He said that the curve of COVID-19 pandemic could come down only by actively involving the people in sensitizing them to adopt social distancing, use face masks and sanitizers. He also felt the need for providing proper quarantine facilities for doctors and other paramedical staff.

Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, Additional Chief Secretary Home Manoj Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Health RD Dhiman, Principal Secretaries JC Sharma and Onkar Sharma, Additional Director General of Police, Ashok Tiwari, Special Secretary DC Rana and other officers attended the meeting.