Chief secy proposes lockdown, state govt decides against it

Bordering Delhi, the two districts account for 43% of the total active cases in state

After contemplating to impose a week-long lockdown in pandemic-hit Gurugram and Faridabad districts, the Haryana government on Friday stopped short of taking the restrictive measure to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The two NCR districts bordering Delhi account for 43% of the total active cases in state and are classified in critical category for having a positivity rate of over 6%.

Proposing a week-long lockdown in both districts, Haryana chief secretary Vijai Vardhan on Friday, in a communication to state health minister Anil Vij, highlighted the alarming projection with regard to active cases and hospitalisation capacity in both districts.

Vardhan wrote that if the cases continued to spread at the existing rate, he anticipated that in a week Gurugram will be experiencing an addition of 8,000-10,000 new cases and the number of active cases may go up to 30,000 to 50,000.

Vij, however, said that as of now there is no decision to impose lockdown. “It is alright for officials to express their views, but the state government has to take the final decision,” he said.

Citing data analysis done by the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) of the health department regarding Gurugram, the chief secretary wrote that 20% of the total active cases need hospitalisation, 10-15% need oxygen support and 3% need ventilator support.

He underlined that medical infrastructure in Gurugram was under tremendous strain and will be unable to cope with any significant addition of patients.

Top officials said the state government was not keen on imposing a lockdown without making preparations to ensure that people, including migrant workers, were not inconvenienced. “Another aspect is the economy. Lockdown like last year would mean shutting down manufacturing units and enterprises,” said an official.