With rising number of cases, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday urged cured COVID-19 patients to motivate people to take precautions against catching infection rather than fearing the disease and also appealed to the cured COVID-19 patients to donate their plasma for treatment of others.

“All COVID-19 survivors should encourage people to take proper precautions against the disease rather than fearing it,” he said while chairing a meeting of the Crisis Management Group (CMG), comprising officers of various departments, to review the COVID-19 status in Haryana.

The Chief Minister was apprised of the free COVID-19 test facility made available recently in all civil hospitals of the state and a person can call up toll-free  numbers 108 or 1075 for collection of the test sample for the disease. In the CMG meet, the CM was also told that SMSes are being sent to COVID-19 survivors for plasma donation and so far 338 people have come forward for it.

A total of 32,000 out of nearly 39,000 infected people have been cured from the infection in the state.

In the CMG meet, the Chief Minister was also informed that as part of the Unlock 3 process, a special campaign is being run to motivate people to wear masks and adhere to social distancing norms. It is being done through advertisements on the vehicles of Urban Local Bodies Department and erecting over 900 hoardings on traffic intersections.

Additional Chief Secretary Rajeev Arora of the Health and Family Welfare Department informed the Chief Minister that except in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Rewari districts, the number of COVID-19 patients in other districts is under control.

Director General of Police Manoj Yadava told the meeting that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the policemen have been dedicatedly performing their duties as ‘’corona warriors’’, risking their lives. He said the rate of policemen contracting infection in Haryana is lower than those in other states. He said so far, 587 policemen, amounting to 1.14 per cent of the total force, have been infected, and their recovery rate is 65 percent. So far three policemen have died of COVID-19, the DGP said. The Chief Minister asked officials to open at least one COVID-19 testing laboratory in each district, where testing should be conducted through RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) method instead of antigen testing.

On this, Additional Chief Secretary Alok Nigamof the Medical Education Research Department said at present there are 16 COVID-19 testing labs, out of which 11 are in government hospitals and five in private hospitals. Besides, this 10 more labs will be opened soon.

Khattar asked officials to ensure free pick-and-drop ambulance facility for people requiring tests.

He was also apprised by officials that at present, under the inter-state transport services, about 150 buses of Haryana Roadways are being run for Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Chief Minister said it should be ensured that every passenger in the bus wears a mask and sanitizes his or her hands. No person should be allowed to travel while standing in the bus, he said.

Director General Amit Agrawal of the Urban Local Bodies Department informed the Chief Minister that the number of electric crematoriums is being increased in cities and work has been allocated to establish 14 such crematoriums. At present, additional 11 crematoriums have been built in the premises of existing crematoriums, he said.

The officials who participated in the CMG meet also included Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora and Additional Chief Secretary (Home Department) Vijai Vardhan.