Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has urged the people of the state to participate in the vaccination drive against Covid-19 so that the spread of this pandemic could be checked against a third possible wave. He said that the state government has launched the vaccination campaign on a large scale and Himachal Pradesh was among the leading states in this campaign. The Chief Minister said that the state government was fully geared up to handle the situation and all arrangements have been made to tackle a third possible wave of this pandemic effectively.
The Himachal Pradesh government can impose more restrictions keeping in view the rising Covid-19 cases in the state. The government is further planning to increase strictness on wedding ceremonies, religious festivals and political gathering in the state also. The government is worried about the rapidly increasing cases in Himachal. Health Secretary Amitabh Awasthi said that Himachal has a strong health infrastructure to deal with the possible third wave, but the increase in cases is worrying.
Himachal ranks first in vaccination; so far 90 percent of the population in the state has received the first dose of corona vaccine. With the increasing cases of corona infection in the state for the last several days; the government is now preparing to impose more restrictions. Several restrictions can also be put in place to control the overcrowding. Himachal Pradesh is also is among select states of the country where the numbers of Covid cases and reproduction and positivity rate are on the higher side. And this is the reason why the government has implemented the mandatory vaccination along with RT-PCR report for all the people coming to the state.
Health Secretary Amitabh Awasthi said that even after imposing some restrictions in the state, Covid-19 cases are showing an increasing trend ,so restrictions can be imposed in the coming days to control the crowd in marriage ceremonies, festivals, political programmes. The Health Department is preparing a proposal regarding this, and the final decision will be taken in the cabinet.
Meanwhile, in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19, the state government has made it mandatory to register again for people entering Himachal. According to the orders issued by the State Disaster Management Cell on Wednesday, all types of inter-state movement in the state will be monitored through registration on the government’s Covid e-pass portal.