Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today said the state had been able to check the spread of coronavirus to an extent by taking timely and effective steps so far and ruled out any relaxation in curfew for general public in the state till 3 May.

Talking to media persons here, the Chief Minister said there had been no change in the situation from 15 to 20 April. “We were expecting that there won’t be more Covid-19 cases in HP. But this didn’t happen. So any relaxation in curfew at this moment will only spoil the things,” he said.

The CM said the government is giving limited relaxation to some categories as per Centre’s guidelines, but the curfew will continue strictly. The state had to impose curfew on 24 March, because the people were taking lockdown ( imposed on 23 March) lightly. And it helped,” he said. (The state has so far reported 39 coronavirus corona virus cases and one death).

Thakur said people who came from Delhi with valid passes told him that nobody stopped them in Haryana or Punjab, but as soon as they reached Parwanoo, there was strict checking at the entry point and other places in Himachal,” he said.

He said the government is concerned over the students from the state who are stuck outside the state. He said he had been getting calls round the clock from the people, students and their parents stuck outside, who want to come home, so one can understand the distress.

“Sometimes, if I am not able to take the calls, there are 80-90 missed calls in half an hour. I know it is a difficult period for them, but I urge all of them to stay wherever they are and bear it out for some more days. They will help the state by doing this. The government is coordinating to facilitate them outside the state,” he said.

The CM said people who have medical emergencies or other problems are however being allowed. He said the government has set up quarantine centre at the inter-state borders and still if someone is coming, he or she is quarantined there for 14 days.

The CM said the Police doctors, para medical staff and the sanitation workers have done a good job in helping the government check the spread of Covid-19.

He said the state has incurred loss of revenue to the tune of over Rs 400 crore in the lockdown period. “Against the expected revenue of Rs 450 crore in this period, we have just got Rs 40 crore,” he said.

The CM informed that out of 39 Covid-19 positive cases, 11 persons have been cured, and four others have gone outside the state for treatment. He said till today, 2902 persons have been tested for Covid-19, out of which 2567 have been found negative and sample report of 296 is awaited. He said 7576 persons were kept in surveillance in the state, out of which 5308 have completed mandatory surveillance of 28 days. Right now, 2268 persons are under surveillance in state.

He said five hospitals have been notified as committed Covid-19 hospitals in Himachal.

Thakur said in the door to door campaign by health workers to check health status of individuals in HP, around 10,000 persons have been found to have influenza like illness, out of which 700 have been tested.

“We have decided that in case of Covid-19 positive case in a area, the government will go for Covid-19 tests of all those people in the cluster, who are found to have symptoms like cough and fever,” he said.