The Punjab government had announced on Saturday that only those people who are either fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a negative RT-PCR report will be allowed to enter the state effective Monday. It has also been stated that strict monitoring of people coming from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu will be done.

In an official statement, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh expressed concern over the positivity rate in Himachal Pradesh and some other parts of the country, which likely led to a marginal increase in Punjabs positivity rate to 0.2% in the last week with reproduction number rising to 1.05%.

A Cambridge study also predicts that cases may increase two-fold over the next 64 days, cautioned the CM, and announced fresh restrictions in addition to those already being implemented. These will be applicable to people entering the state by road, rail or air, and those who do not not fulfil either of the criteria, they will be subjected to rapid antigen test (RAT) unless they have recently recovered from COVID-19.

With reports of COVID-19 cases from schools, Singh has ordered that only fully vaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff, or those who have recently recovered from COVID-19, can teach in-person. Online classes will continue to be available to all children, stated the CM.

Since August 9, around 41 students and one staff member in government schools have tested positive for COVID. The CM has directed to prioritize teachers and non-teaching staff for vaccination, with special camps to make sure that all receive their first dose within this month and those who are waiting for their second should also be given due attention. Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu suggested that the gap between the two doses be reduced to quickly administer the second dose to teachers and other school staff.

The CM also ordered that at least 10,000 samples of students and staff from schools must be collected for testing daily. Districts with positivity rate above 0.2% have been directed to stop in-person education for up to class 4 until there is improvement. According to the CM, the positivity rate among school students is 0.1% as compared to the overall positivity of 0.2% over the past one week.

He has also ordered the schools to allow only one student per bench. He stated that parents of school-going children should also be encouraged to get their COVID-19 vaccine.

Source: ET Healthworld