Himachal Pradesh’s strategy of Active Case Finding (ACF) to deal with Covid-19, which helped in screening entire population of the state for any Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), has found favour with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

An official release said here that in a video conference with Chief Ministers of different states today, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi appreciated the efforts of Himachal Pradesh government for effectively taking up ACF campaign and asked other states to follow the HP model to deal with the pandemic.

The ACF Campaign was a unique program under which 70 lakh population was checked for ILI with the team of 16,000 officials including ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, paramedics and police. The ILI patients are now being tested for coronavirus.

The testing ratio of the state is 700 per million of population, which is one of the highest in the country.

The PM asked the states to motivate people to download Arogya Setu App which would help in detecting an active Corona Virus carrier.

Himachal Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur urged the Prime Minister to provide an adequate number of ventilators to meet any eventuality. He said that although manufacturing in pharma units in the state has started and they were meeting out the requirements of the country as well as the world.

He said that almost 80 percent pharma was in MSME sector, therefore the Union Government should provide all possible help to ensure smooth supply of chemicals and raw material.

Thakur said that the state government has constituted a task force to restart economic activities in the State. He said that the State was endeavouring to start economic activities within the state.

He said that Himachal Pradesh is a tourist state as lakhs of domestic and foreign tourists visit the stat every year. He said that the Corona pandemic has completely ruined the tourism industry in the state. He said that similarly, apple plays a vital role in the economy of the state. He said that there is an urgent need to ensure an adequate supply of carton boxes and also a better facility for smooth transportation of apple.

The CM said the state has so far reported positive cases of Covid-19, including one death. He said 25 persons have been discharged after being found negative, while four persons have gone for treatment outside the state. He said that remaining 10 persons were under treatment in the hospitals of the state. He said that no case of Covid-1 has been reported during the last five days from any part of the state.

Thakur said that first case for coronavirus in the state was reported on 19 March FROM Kangra, curfew was imposed in Kangra district. On 23 March entire state was placed under curfew to break the chain of coronavirus. He said that the supply chain of essential commodities had been ensured so that people do not face any inconvenience due to imposition curfew.

The Chief Minister said that six out of 12 districts of Himachal are in the green zone and not even a single case of coronavirus has been reported in these districts. He felt the need to continue lockdown to tackle Covid-19 pandemic, but at the same time pressed that the states should be allowed to start their economic activities particularly in the green zone.