Karnataka: KP Nanjundi joins Congress hours after resignation from BJP
Nanjundi took the primary membership of the Congress party in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Punjab intends to launch a rapid testing drive aiming to screen one million persons for symptoms of Coronavirus.
Sharing this with health ministers of Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry through video conference late last evening, Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said for testing one million persons, acquisition of 10 lakh Rapid Testing Kits (RTK) has been approved by the Punjab Cabinet and order for requisition of one lakh kits from Indian Council of Medical Research has been placed.
Besides, the testing capacity of Viral Research Diagnostic Labs (VRDL) in Government Medical Colleges at Patiala and Amritsar has been increased.
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Approval for testing at GMC Faridkot, DMC and CMC Ludhiana has also been sought from the Union government of India.
Sharing the shared best practices adopted in their states to contain the spread of COVID-19, the minister said Punjab has ramped up testing capacity ten-fold with the procurement of requisite machines.
Sidhu informed that modalities are being worked out for manufacturing PPE kits at Ludhiana which once operational would enable Punjab not just to meet its own requirement but would have sufficient kits to supply to other states.
During the video conference, some of the health ministers suggested setting up of testing facility at every district headquarters, in case of exponential growth in COVID-19 cases.
However, Punjab is expected to cope up the situation with Union government’s approval to rope in GMC Faridkot, DMC and CMC Ludhiana, said Sidhu.
He said so far, Influenza-like Illness (ILI) cases or those with international travel history or the contacts of COVID-19 patients are being screened but asymptomatic cases being found positive in different parts of the country, is an alarming phenomena which calls for better preparation, agreed all.
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