All the district officers and other field officers of Himachal Pradesh must ensure effective implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding the limit of maximum fifty persons in social gatherings such as marriages etc. for checking the spread of the Coronavirus.

This was stated by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday while presiding over a meeting with the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, Chief Medical Officers, SDMs, Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars and BDOs through video conference from Shimla.

The chief minister said that there has been a sharp spike in the number of Covid-19 patients in the state which as per the report are being attributed to the large number of gatherings in social functions such as marriages, religious functions etc. He directed the field officers to ensure that stern action was taken against the violators.

He said that all the Deputy Commissioners must take daily report from their respective field officers regarding such celebrations in the State. He said that the officers must ensure proper counselling of the families prior to the function so as to motivate them to ensure not more than fifty persons in such functions. He directed the Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars to ensure daily monitoring of marriages and other social functions in their respective areas.

Thakur said that effective mechanisms be evolved to ensure at least one telephone call by a doctor to patients under treatment at home to enquire about their health. He said that the doctors and paramedical staff must daily record the health status and parameter of the patient under home isolation, which would help in their proper treatment. He said that regular and daily monitoring of such patients would not only help in getting effective information about the health parameters of the patients, but would also help in boosting the morale of the patients. He said that sanitizers be also made available to the persons under home isolation and also ensure that proper sanitization of area and home be done after the patient under home isolation turns negative.

The chief minister said that telephone calls were also being made through chief minister Helpline-1100 to Covid-19 positive patients undergoing treatment at home to boost their morale to fight this virus. He said that the State Government would not hesitate in taking stern action against the officials showing laxity in this regard.

Thakur said that it must be ensured that no patients may suffer for want of proper ambulance and transportation facilities for covid-19 patients under treatment at home requires to be shifted to the hospital for treatment. He said that additional vehicles be deployed to facilitate the patients in particularly in rural areas. Health Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal said that greater stress must be laid on contact tracing to check the spread of this virus. He said that Chief Medical Officers and Block Medical Officers must ensure greater field visits. He said that ‘Kada’ must also be provided in the health kit of the Corona patients under home treatment. He said that this would help in boosting the immunity of the patients.

Chief Secretary Anil Khachi said that a common format would be provided to the field officers to effectively regulate the number of guests in the social events. He said that all the events require pre event counselling so that people voluntarily avoid inviting more than fifty guests. He said that mapping of patients under treatment at home has been done to facilitate the better contact between the patients and doctors. Secretary Health Amitabh Awasthi said that a dedicated helpline would be provided for establishing better communication between the doctors and covid patients in home isolation.

Additional Chief Secretary Revenue R.D. Dhiman, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister J.C. Sharma, DGP Sanjay Kundu, Director National Health Mission (NHM) Nipun Jindal and other senior officers attended the meeting.