Follow curbs or face total lockdown: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday warned people against laxity in observing Covid-19 curbs and said if the situation did not improve, he would be forced to consider a total lockdown.

70% doses for co-morbid people among 18+

• With the state getting only 3.30 lakh doses for the 18+ category from Serum Institute of India for May, the CM ordered 70% of the doses to be reserved for individuals with co-morbidities and the remaining for the high-risk category
• He expressed concern over the fact that even for the 45+ age group, the vaccine was in short supply. The state expects two lakh doses to arrive on Tuesday for 45+

The Chief Minister said he had so far refrained from ordering a sweeping lockdown because it would hurt the poor the most and would lead to exodus of migrant labourers, plunging industries into chaos again. However, if the people did not stringently comply with the restrictions in place, harsher steps might have to be taken, he added.

Chairing a high-level virtual meeting to review the Covid situation on Monday, the Chief Minister today also ordered a stop on all take-away deliveries from restaurants, which was being used by youngsters as a pretext to move out of their homes. Only home deliveries of food should be allowed, he directed the officials. He, however, gave permission for shops selling fertilisers to be open.

With the state getting an allocation of only 3.30 lakh doses of vaccine for the 18+ category from the Serum Institute of India for the month of May. He also ordered 70 per cent of the doses to be reserved for individuals with co-morbidities, and the remaining 30 per cent to high-risk category — government employees, construction workers, teachers and other staff.

He expressed concern over the fact that even for the 45+ age group, the vaccine was in short supply. The state expects two lakh doses to arrive tomorrow

for vaccination of the 45+ category. Of the 33,46,500 Covishield doses received so far, a total of 32,91,045 has already been utilised.

In the 18-44 age group, the maximum allocation of 50 per cent has been prioritised for Group A of the most affected districts of SAS Nagar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda and Patiala. Another 30 per cent has been reserved for the Group B districts of Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, SBS Nagar, Faridkot, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur.

Accepting the recommendations of the committee, the Chief Minister approved expansion of the list of comorbidities to include obesity (BMI >30), disabilities (e.g. spinal cord injury) and multiple co-morbidities determined to increase risk by a treating physician, in addition to those specified by the central government.

He directed the Health and Medical Education departments to get stadiums, gymnasiums and other such places ready to house patients. The directives came as Health Minister Balbir Sidhu said the situation was grim with only 300 beds now available at L3 level in the state.