CM Gehlot holds COVID-19 review meeting; officials asked to increase testing in rural areas

Jaipur: A day after the union government issued a new COVID-19 guideline, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot held a review meeting to discuss steps to prevent the alarming spread of the deadly virus. He instructed the officials to increase COVID-19 testing in rural areas and intensify the public awareness campaign for social distancing and masks. He also asks officials to impose night curfew in the eight districts more strictly.

“There has been a lot of negligence on part of the people in the state. There were municipal elections and then the festive season. Social distancing guidelines were openly flouted and people didn’t wear masks when venturing out of their homes. It resulted in this second wave of the virus spread,” said a senior health department official.

He said it is being assumed that the COVID-19 testing is not happening in rural areas on a large scale. While the testing is being done on a large scale in urban areas including Jaipur city, it’s not being done at the same rate in rural areas.

“So the chief minister wants to increase the COVID-19 testing in rural areas so that it can be ascertained if people there also are getting affected,” said the officer.

On Wednesday, the state reported 3285 new COVID-19 cases. The virus claimed 18 more lives. The total number of COVID-19 cases have gone up to 253,767. As many as 615 cases were reported in Jaipur alone, taking the total number of cases to 26,320.