Ensure tight surveillance, Centre tells States

25/03/2020

With the lockdown hitting the Indian industry hard and causing job losses, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters an economic package to help tide over the crisis will be announced very soon.

In a letter to Chief Secretaries on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba asked them to ensure that no suspected or high-risk person was left out of surveillance efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

He also called upon chief secretaries to make sure that hospitals are earmarked for treating COVID-19 cases and in a state of “full readiness” to deal with the situation in the event of a “further spike in the number of confirmed cases.”

Meanwhile complaints of discrimination against healthcare workers, airline staff and people who have been quarantined have also emerged.

As journalists and workers associated with the media faced police action amid the lockdown in some parts of the country, the Centre advised States to facilitate functioning of all print and electronic media outlets.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) said in an advisory, “false and fake news need to be avoided and good practices need to be promoted and these networks play a pivotal role in ensuring the same.”