Minister Ashok Singhal reviews COVID-19 situation in Sonitpur district

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TEZPUR: Minister for Guwahati Development, Urban Development, Ashok Singhal on Thursday reviewed the management of COVID-19 situation in Sonitpur district at a meeting held at the conference all of the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Thursday in view of the rising number of COVID positive cases in the district. The minister who is in-charge for the district praised the efforts of the Sonitpur district administration and medical team of Tezpur Medical College and Hospital in dealing with the situation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and asked the officials present to gear up to deal with the situation in the coming days.

At the very outset, Deputy Commissioner Manvendra Pratap Singh felicitated the minister and newly-elected MLAs of Tezpur and Rangapara constituencies Prithiraj Rava and Krishna Kamal Tanti who were also present in the review meeting. The Deputy Commissioner gave a detailed presentation about the various facilities in place for managing COVID patients and present situation in the district in respect of positive cases and overall status.

Minister Ashok Singhal stressed the need to create utmost awareness in all interior places of the district about COVID protocol and directed the Circle Officers to form local task forces and carry out intense surveillance in their respective areas to identify people who had returned from outside the State, fever surveillance. He also took stock of the availability of oxygen facilities at TMCH and other COVID care centres and stressed optimum use of the resources available in the district and also directed the officials to pursue any pending work with the view to improve the infrastructure in the district.

Moreover, the minister directed the CEO, Zilla Parishad to mobilize all PRI representatives to carry out intense awareness activities at the grassroots level in the district and monitor movement of people in their local areas. In order to stop the virus from spreading further, the minister suggested reopening of quarantine centres/ similar facilities so that positive patients who do not have the necessary facilities at home to stay in home isolation can be looked after in these facilities. He also urged on the need to involve civil society organizations which can go about in creating necessary awareness about preventive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Laying special focus on tea garden areas, he directed health department officials to carry out awareness drives in these areas so that the functioning of the gardens is not affected.

He also directed the Circle Officers to maintain close coordination with health officials of BPHCs and CHCs, officials of local police stations, supply officials among others for smooth management of COVID-19 in the district.

Superintendent of Police Mugdhajyoti Dev Mahanta, CEO, Zilla Parishad, Diganta Baishya, Joint Director Health Services, Dr J Ahmed, heads of various departments, all Circle Officers, senior medical officers of the health department, i/c COVID Care Centres were present in the meeting.

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