HIMACHAL PRADESH Health Minister Rajiv Saizal on Monday appealed to people who have recovered from Covid-19 to do voluntary service at isolation wards of the state. Such volunteers can interact with the Covid patients undergoing treatment to raise their morale, he added. “Those who have recovered from Covid have developed antibodies and are thus at a decreased risk of infection. All they have to do is talk to Covid patients to provide emotional support. They will not be required to do any other kind of work,” he said after visiting the Covid isolation ward at IGMC Hospital in Shimla. Saizal also praised the doctors and workers deployed in Covid wards, saying that they were required to wear PPE kits for eight hours at a stretch, during which they could not even drink water or use the bathroom. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, in a video address to the public, said that the state government will be enforcing the recently announced social gathering and night curfew restrictions more strictly to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “According to an analysis of recent Covid cases, around 80 per cent of the new infections have been traced to social events, mainly weddings. There have been instances across the state where a single infected person has spread the virus among 50-60 people,” he said. Thakur said there was a time when Himachal was praised for its effective handling of the pandemic. Gradually, however, people started taking it less seriously and the recent cases surge in the state is a cause of concern, he said. The state reported 1,026 new Covid cases and 12 deaths on Sunday, and currently has 8,167 active cases. The case tally of Himachal is 40,139, including 630 deaths.
