The Chief Minister gave this update to Congress president Sonia Gandhi during a Video Conference, at which he informed the party leadership that the state government was being guided by a Group of Experts in handling the COVID crisis.
The group comprises Dr. KK Talwar, former Director PGI; Dr. Raj Bahadur, VC State Health University; Dr. Rajesh Kumar, former Head, School of Public Health, PGI, as well as Experts from PGI, John Hopkins University, etc.
So far, the mortality rate in the state was high largely due to co-morbidity and lack of health-seeking behaviour (patients come late to hospital), said Captain Amarinder.
Despite the high mortality rate of 6.2%, the rate of growth of coronavirus in the Punjab was lower than India, with the cases doubling in 16 days against the national average of 9 days. Cases in Punjab had steadily declined from 2.57% of the total cases in India (as of March 31) to 1.22% in 3 weeks (till April 22), revealing effective containment of Covid-19 in the State, said the Chief Minister.
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As an instance of effective containment Captain Amarinder cited the example of Nawanshahar that had been appreciated by the Government of India as well as the media.
Nawanshahar emerged as one of the hotspots in the country but now is corona-free, all 18 treated cases (besides 1 initial death of Granthi Baldev Singh) had recovered and been discharged, and no case had been reported since 26 March 2020, he informed the meeting.
The Chief Minister further compared his state with Kerala and Gujarat which also hails significant number of NRI population. Punjab managed to contain the spread of the disease.
Currently, the state has registered 257 positive cases, with 16 dead and two critical patients (one on ventilator and one on HDU), while 53 had been discharged.
The state has 3 Containment Zones (Red Zone where there are more than 15 cases - Jawaharpur, Safabadi Gate-Patiala, Budhlada), while three districts--Ferozepur, Fazilka, Bathinda-- are Green Zones with no cases. Dedicated COVID Isoation Hospitals have also been developed.
With respect to testing, the Chief Minister said 7887 tests have bene done so far, with regular testing facility of 400/day each at GMC Amritsar and GMC Patiala, 150/day at GMC Faridkot and IMTECH Chandigarh, and 60/day at PGI Chandigarh.
In addition to this, several private hospitals are also ensuring testing facilities like-- DMC Ludhiana with 40 test /day and Tuli Diagnostic Lab, Amritsar testing 100 a day. C
At present, the testing rate in the state, at 248/million, is slightly lower than national average of 309/million (excluding Rapid Testing).
Regarding the Rapid Testing, the Chief Minister said 3502 cases were tested before ICMR suspended such tests.
The state currently has 10500 rapid testing kits supplied by ICMR, while 10000 had been ordered by the state government, with deliveries in progress. The government has also floated tender inquiry for another 50000 kits.