COVID-19: Haryana govt deputes senior IAS officers to districts to strategise response

The Haryana government on Monday asked senior IAS officers to visit districts for a minimum of two days to supervise the current arrangements and chalk out strategies to be put in place to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The officers will visit Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Palwal, Jhajjar, Rewari and Mahendragarh, Karnal, Sonipat and Jind districts.

For over a week, Haryana has seen a surge in coronavirus cases which are now close to the 5,000 mark. The state has reported 39 deaths, 11 of which were reported on Monday. The National Capital Region districts - Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat - are the worst-hit.

The officers deputed include Sunil Gulati, Vijay Vardhan, Sanjeev Kaushal, Alok Nigam, Devender Singh, T C Gupta, according to an order issued by the state chief secretary. The officers are required to specifically do an audit of the implementation of health department and the respective district administration's instructions -- such as wearing masks in public places -- in the containment zones.

Each officer will also be required to inspect facilities -- washrooms and toilets -- being provided at COVID care and community quarantine centres and isolation wards.

Physical inspection of all ventilators, ICU beds, availability of oxygen beds in non-ICU wards in all private and public hospitals will also be carried out. The IAS officers will have to ensure that all officials of police, ULB, health and medical education and research departments are motivated to carry on the fight against COVID-19.

The chief secretary's order said the officers should energize all registered volunteers and ensure their best deployment by the district administration. They should also prepare an inventory of available resources for testing, isolation and treatment of COVID-19 patients and make an estimate of resources that would be needed if the virus continues to spread at the current rate for a couple of weeks.

For Panchkula, Ambala, Fatehabad, Charkhi Dadri, Panipat, Hisar and Sirsa districts, the officers in-charge of the district would submit their findings on issues which the IAS officers have been tasked with in other districts. The IAS officers shall submit their written reports within 24 hours of their return to Chandigarh to the chief secretary, the order added.