50% daily cases in Karnal district from rural areas

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 9

The deadlier second Covid wave is fast spreading to rural areas of the district. With 50 per cent daily cases coming from rural areas, the district administration is now on alert.

The data of the Health Department indicates a grim picture with the district reporting 3,877 cases in the last six days, of which 1,848 are from rural areas.

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The department has also earmarked five villages, including Nigdhu, Barota, Badgaon, Kunjpura and Rahra, where maximum cases have been reported in the last few days.

District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav has declared Badagaon as a containment zone due to the high number of Covid cases. Any kind of movement in the village is restricted for a week.

Meanwhile, residents of Nigdhu village have demanded to declare the area as a containment zone. “We demand the authorities to seal all entry and exit points to the village. Also, door-to-door massive screening should be done,” said Dimple, Nigdhu villager.

To contain the spread and also to break the virus chain in rural areas, the department has started a massive campaign of conducting antigen tests. “We have been making efforts to contain the virus spread in rural areas. We are conducting around 1,800-1,900 antigen tests in these areas, so that the cases can be traced and treated on time,” said Dr Yogesh Sharma, Civil Surgeon, adding that the cases were scattered in a majority of areas, while the infection rate was high in five villages, where the vigil had been increased.

He said the vaccination drive was being conducted in rural areas as well, and people were coming forward to get the jabs.

On the other hand, the district administration has also started the preparation for setting up Covid care centres at the sub-division level. “We are going to start an isolation facility for patients at the sub-division level. A 20-bed hospital is being developed in Assandh, while a similar facility will be available at Gharaunda and Indri subdivisions in coming days,” said Yadav.

He said the isolation facility would be available at seven Community Health Centres of the district. To cater to the increasing need of workers, Yadav has directed the Civil Surgeon to appoint Class IV employees for these centres.

DSP dies of Covid

DSP Virender Singh (50), posted as Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Narnaul, succumbed to Covid on Sunday. He had been admitted at a private hospital in Rohtak for the past 15 days. DGP Virender Singh Manoj Yadava said the Haryana Police had lost a dedicated and hard working officer. TNS