Haryana's COVID-19 cases cross 1-lakh mark

The state registered 2,694 fresh cases and 19 more deaths, according to the state health department's daily bulletin. Gurugram district reported its highest single-day spike of 421 fresh cases.

The COVID-19 tally in Haryana crossed the one-lakh mark on Wednesday, six months after the state had reported its first infection, while the death toll due to the disease has mounted to 1,045. The state registered 2,694 fresh cases and 19 more deaths, according to the state health department's daily bulletin.

Gurugram district reported its highest single-day spike of 421 fresh cases. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 1,01,316. On March 17, the state had reported its first COVID-19 case after a 29-year-old woman from Gurugram district had tested positive for the disease. She had a travel history to Malaysia and Indonesia. Health Minister Anil Vij said that after suffering from a high fever for three days, he got himself tested for COVID-19 but the report returned negative.

"Three days ago, I was running high fever…I got COVID test done and the report has come negative. Fever has also come down and temperature is normal now,” Vij tweeted. Of the new deaths, five were recorded from Karnal district, two each from Faridabad, Gurugram, Panchkula, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar, and one each from Kaithal, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Ambala districts, the bulletin said.

Besides Gurugram, other districts which reported a high number of fresh cases are Faridabad (292), Kurukshetra (234), Karnal (197), Ambala (192), Rohtak (178), Panipat (133) and Sirsa (141). The number of active cases in the state is 21,334, while 78,937 people have been discharged.

As of Wednesday, the state has a recovery rate of 77.91 per cent and the fatality rate of 1.03 per cent. The rate at which infections are doubling is 27 days and COVID positivity rate is 6.50 per cent, according to the bulletin. As many cases are being reported in various government offices/departments, the state chief secretary in communication to various heads of departments, commissioners of all divisions in Haryana, deputy commissioners, MDs of Boards and Corporations and registrars of all the universities in the state listed certain preventive measures which need to be taken.

"Handheld thermal scanners shall be utilised at the entry of all government buildings to scan temperature of visitors," the order dated September 15 said. It said there shall be a strict restriction on the entry of visitors in the office complex except in case of emergent situations. Routine issuing of visitors and temporary passes should be suspended, it added.

"As per the instructions, attendance of officers of Group 'A' and 'B' should continue to be 100 per cent while in case of employees of Groups 'C' and 'D' the HoD or head of the office should decide the percentage of attendance for any number above 50 per cent, keeping in mind that the social distance of minimum six feet have to be ensured between employees," according to the order. It said movement of physical files between departments be avoided as far as possible. Cases may be sent through e-office for all the departments, as per the communication.

If any employee contracts coronavirus infection, the quarantine period prescribed by the competent medical authority should be treated as duty period for all intents and purposes, it said. "All pregnant women employees, whether regular or working as contractual employees, daily wager or ad hoc, shall work from home," the order added.