Chandigarh: Badnore warns of another lockdown

“The Administrator warned that, if necessary, lockdown will again be imposed, especially on weekends to contain spread of infection,” said a statement issued by the UT.

Badnore directed Director General of Police to ensure that the curfew from 10 pm to 5 am is strictly enforced. It was also directed that all vehicles, found moving during curfew hours should be seized by the police, unless the driver is able to prove that it was on essential duty.

The Administrator directed Deputy Commissioner, UT, Chandigarh to enhance surprise checks in parks/places, markets etc to penalise people not following social distancing norms or not wearing masks.

The PGIMER Director was ordered to immediately hold a meeting with Director Health Services of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh to discuss and finalise a protocol for admission of patients coming from other states, particularly when facilities for treating such patients are locally available.

The Administrator clarified that PGIMER, being a premier central institute of the Government of India, cannot deny treatment to people from other states.

Dr Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER stated that out of 445 samples tested, 29 were found positive on Friday. The samples tested included 199 from Chandigarh, 176 from Punjab and 70 from Ladakh. Dr BS Chavan, Director Principal, GMCH stated that out of 144 samples tested by GMCH, 9 were found positive on Friday.

Dr G Dewan, Director Health Services stated that they have started a fresh house-to-house survey of entire UT for detecting asymptomatic cases. As a first step, Sector 41 is getting covered. As many as 14 teams with doctors and para-medical officials will cover the entire sector comprising 5,000 people. The Administrator advised them to intensify checking on the borders.