Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal today clarified that there are no suspected or confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) in district Ludhiana till now, as has been wrongly reported in some sections of the media. The Deputy Commissioner warned of strict action against any person misreporting news items without verification by the competent authority or spreading false news on social media.The Deputy Commissioner today held a meeting with the representatives from media houses and also addressed a press conference later. He was also accompanied by Commissioner of Police Mr Rakesh Kumar Agrawal, ADC (General) Mr Iqbal Singh Sandhu, ADC (Khanna) Mr Jaspal Singh, ADC (Jagraon) Mrs Neeru Katyal Gupta, Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga, District Public Relations Officer Mr Prabhdeep Singh Nathowal, besides other senior officials of the district administration. Before the press conference, he also chaired a review meeting with senior officials of the district administration at his office, here today.The Deputy Commissioner clarified that a total of 11 suspected cases were reported in district Ludhiana, out of which 10 were negative and the report of one is still awaited. He said that there is no other suspected or confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus in the district. He said that as of now, there are no suspected “missing” persons in the district.He further informed that to make the masses aware about this disease, a large scale awareness drive on the lines of Pulse Polio campaign would be held in the district from March 19-26, 2020. He said that this drive would be led by the health department and would have officials from education, aanganwari and cooperative departments. He said that more than 2000 teams have been formed for this purpose and they would visit all houses in the district and educate the masses about ways to protect themselves from Novel Coronavirus.The Deputy Commissioner informed that training of all department heads was held yesterday, in which they were trained about ways to save themselves from COVID 19. He said that the SDMs have been directed to check whether any person is hoarding masks and hand sanitisers in the district, or is selling fake/sub standard ones. He said that now, both masks and hand sanitisers have been added in Essential Commodities Act and strict action would be taken against any person who either hoards it or sells fake.He said that 54 isolation wards and 81 quarantine areas have been set up in government and private hospitals of the district.
He further said that directions have also been issued to the factory owners in which factories having 50 or more employees would appoint a nodal officer who would educate the staff/labour about COVID 19, their hands should be cleaned using a hand sanitiser at the entry point, not more than 50 staff/labour would be allowed to enter the factory at one point of time and the second batch would have a difference of atleast 15 minutes with each other, the workers should have at least 2 metres distance amongst each other at the work place, bio metric attendance should be stopped etc. He said that a meeting in this regard with the representatives of industrial organisations was held in his office today.The officials of District Food & Civil Supplies Controllers have been asked to keep ample amount of food items are arranged so that they can be used if need arises, all government offices would have hand sanitisers at entry points for public, government departments that are actively working in this regard have been asked to set up 24X7 control rooms in their respective offices and depute staff.In view of the advisory received from the Government of India for checking the spread of COVID19, all the shopping complexes, Malls, Museums, Local Weekly Kisan Mandis have been closed down besides requesting all the Religious Institutions, Dera Heads to postpone their religious congregations till March 31, 2020.He said that the state government has also decided to restrict the gathering at the marriage function being organised at the marriage palaces (must not increase beyond 50 persons). He said that directions have also been issued to all the Restaurants, Hotels, Dhabas and Food Courts in the district to implement Hand Washing Protocol and proper cleanliness of frequently touched surfaces besides ensuring physical distancing of 1 meter between persons and tables.All the Shopping Complexes and Malls, Cinemas would be closed in the state till March 31 but the chemists and grocery shops in Malls have been exempted from the shut down. Similarly all the Local Weekly Kisan Mandis in the state have been closed in a bid to restrict people to gather in large number at one place. The government has allowed the rehriwalas to sell the vegetables in the streets for the convenience of the public.The School Education Department and administrative bodies of other private educational institutes have been directed to postpone the examinations. In case there is dire need of conducting the examinations, the particular institute and school would inform the district administration and would also ensure that one meter distance is maintained between two students.