More than 8,000 coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and 162 Covid related deaths have been logged in Himachal Pradesh since 1 December. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday stepped in to allay fears of Covid patients amid growing panic over further spread of the infectious, deadly viral disease, and called up patients to enquire about their wellbeing.

A state government official said as the Covid-19 pandemic has gripped the entire world community and has created panic amongst the people, Himachal too could not remain immune from this global crisis posed by the pandemic.

However, being very sensitive towards the plight of people affected by pandemic, the state government has been playing a “pro-active role in carefully handling and managing the situation”, he said.

“The Chief Minister has come forward to help citizens to overcome the fear of Corona and called up over two dozen Covid patients to help them cope with mental trauma and also enquired about their well being.

He also instructed the CM Helpline staff to be in regular touch with Covid patients telephonically and assist them to overcome the mental trauma by inquiring about their problems, if any, in Covid Centres, and also those who are kept under home isolation,” the official said.

The official further stated that as per the directions given earlier, the CM Helpline had contacted 1253 patients in the last 7 days, which include 29.6 percent female and 70.4 percent male patients.

“The state government is making efforts to control and prevent the Corona pandemic. Further, Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, Chief Medical Officers and other senior officers are being given directions on weekly basis for the proper management of Corona,” he said.

He added the state government had directed senior medical officers to continuously inspect the Covid wards and to provide free medical treatment to corona positive patients.

“In addition, the state government has decided not to organize any political functions in the state till 15 December and people have been asked to maintain adequate social distance in public places and strictly follow the use of face masks. The government has limited the number of people in all social, cultural and political events upto 50 to break the chain,” he added.

Himachal Pradesh’s tally of Covid cases has increased to 49,151 now from 40,518 on 30 November, with 200 more persons testing coronavirus positive on Sunday.

The number of deaths due to the viral disease has increased to 797 in the state now from 635 on 30 November. As many as 41,094 persons have been cured of the Covid disease and there were 7,215 active cases in the state at present.

The highest number of Covid cases has been reported from Shimla district (9,100) followed by Mandi (8,284), Kangra (6,641), Solan (5,802), Kullu (4,091) and Sirmaur (2,889).

Shimla district leads in the highest number of fatalities due to Covid with 216 deaths, followed by Kangra (158), Mandi (101), Kullu (77), Solan (64), Chamba (44) and Hamirpur (38).