Chatbot on Punjab’s COVA app to assist with self-care throughout isolation

As a part of Mission Fateh, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday launched a Punjab Covid Care WhatsApp chatbot for self-care throughout dwelling isolation, and for offering info on mattress availability and vaccine centres.
The chatbot can be useful on Punjab’s COVA app. Patients in dwelling isolation can be required to place their vitals into the app, and these can be monitored by consultants who will advise them on the course of remedy. The app is multilingual and can be accessible in English, Punjabi and Hindi.

The Covid Care chatbot will even present info concerning district management room numbers, with a chance that sooner or later Covid check experiences are additionally provided via the chatbot.
SOCIAL SECURITY PENSION
Punjab authorities on Thursday determined to supply Rs 1500 monthly as social safety pension, together with free schooling as much as commencement, for all these kids orphaned within the Covid pandemic, in addition to households which have misplaced their breadwinning members.
The pension can be given from July 1 onwards. Terming it because the state’s responsibility to change into the foster mother and father of youngsters who’ve misplaced each their mother and father within the unprecedented pandemic, the Chief Minister mentioned his authorities will guarantee free schooling in authorities establishments for such kids in addition to kids belonging to households which have misplaced their breadwinners to Covid.
Besides this, all affected folks will even be eligible for a grant of Rs 51000 below the Ashirwaad Scheme from July 1, and can be entitled to free ration below the State Smart Ration Card Scheme and protection below the Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana. The authorities will even help the affected relations to discover a appropriate job below Ghar Ghar Rozgaar te Karobaar Mission, mentioned the Chief Minister, after chairing a high-level Covid evaluate assembly.

The aid measures can be offered to orphans till they attain the age of 21 years. Families whose breadwinner has died can be offered aid for an preliminary interval of three years, after which their scenario can be re-assessed.
The Chief Minister additionally introduced the structure of a monitoring committee, headed by the Minister for Social Security & Women and Child Development, to evaluate the progress and aid measures for each single beneficiary. The committee shall meet no less than as soon as a month, he mentioned.
The division of Social Security & Women and Child Development can be the nodal division for implementation of the aid measures, with the committee being additionally instructed to take care of a report of all such affected individuals and apprise them in regards to the welfare measures being provided to them.
FOOD HELPLINE
The CM additionally reviewed the progress of the lately launched Bhojan Helpline, below which greater than 3000 meals packets — 2721 cooked and 280 raw — had been delivered by Punjab Police to the doorstep of Covid affected households in only a week.
Lauding the Punjab Police for its position within the initiative, the Chief Minister reiterated his dedication to making sure that no one within the state went to sleep hungry in these testing occasions, and urged all affected residents to dial 112 or 181 free of charge meals.
DGP Dinkar Gupta mentioned Covid canteens had been established by the police division in lower than 24 hours, with greater than 120 cooked/raw meals packets delivered on the very first day of the launch of the scheme. From May 14 to May 20, a complete of 385 calls had been obtained on Bhojan Helpline numbers with requests for meals, he added.
PREPARATIONS FOR THIRD WAVE
Amid projections and considerations of a doable third wave of Covid and its affect on kids, Amarinder ordered the well being division to enter mission mode and begin specialised coaching of all medical doctors within the well being division by the top of June, whereas directing house-to-house surveillance to regulate the present unfold of the illness within the rural areas.
Patiala: Beneficiaries wait in lengthy queues to take Covid-19 vaccine dose, at a vaccination centre in Patiala, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (PTI)
Reviewing the Covid scenario within the state throughout a digital assembly, the Chief Minister directed the state skilled group head Dr KK Talwar to look into all elements of medical schooling and to get coaching modules ready for the well being division.
Expressing concern over the unfold of Covid in rural areas, the Chief Minister directed groups to instantly begin house-to-house surveillance in each village. The groups must be outfitted to provide fundamental medicines at once, and Rapid Antigen Tests of symptomatic individuals should be obtained carried out on the earliest, he mentioned. He additionally directed that some CHCs in every district be ready as L2 amenities, with oxygen concentrators and medical doctors.
‘ACT AGAINST OVERCHARGING PRIVATE HOSPITALS’
The Chief Minister directed involved officers to take strict motion towards personal hospitals overcharging Covid sufferers and mentioned they need to even be made to refund the additional funds obtained. He requested DCs to coordinate with the well being division to trace all such complaints of overcharging. The personal hospitals must be requested to show the official fee prominently, and the identical must be extensively publicised, he harassed.
Amarinder expressed satisfaction on the measures taken by the Control Room for Oxygen to observe and forestall any mishap as a consequence of oxygen scarcity. He lauded the officers stationed at Bokaro, Hazira in making certain that the state obtained sufficient oxygen, whereas directing the well being division to constantly pursue with the Centre the difficulty of Oxygen shortfall.
Taking notice of the truth that some hospitalised sufferers want oxygen help for a number of days after discharge, the Chief Minister requested the Health Department to permit 5 litre per minute concentrators for use for this function on a brief mortgage foundation. He additionally requested the division to arrange banks of Oxygen concentrators, moreover establishing Post Covid Care wards in civil hospitals.
DECLINE IN CASES
While the circumstances and positivity within the state had proven a decline over the previous one week, there was no scope for laxity, the Chief Minister harassed, directing the police to strictly implement all restrictions, in coordination with city and native physique leaders additionally on this effort.
DGP Dinkar Gupta mentioned the enforcement drive was being strictly carried out, which had made folks extra cautious now. Since March 19, a complete of 25 lakh violations had been registered, with 1.31 lakhs challans issued and Rs 12 crore collected in nice. At least 2600 violators have been taken to open jails for detention, he mentioned. Theekri pheras had been being held in 60% of the villages to regulate the entry and exit of individuals, he mentioned, assuring the assembly of improved protection within the new few days.
Medical schooling Secretary DK Tiwari that the positivity fee throughout May 2 and May 8 stood at 18.5 per cent, however had since declined. The mattress scenario was presently snug, and oxygen provides in Amritsar had been elevated from 6 KL to 11 KL. On testing, he mentioned that within the final one week, 2.13 lakh RT-PCR assessments had been performed. Health Secretary Hussan Lal mentioned the cumulative positivity on May 19 stood at 6.2 per cent, with Mohali and Malwa areas persevering with to indicate excessive numbers.
Dr KK Talwar, who heads the state’s Covid Expert Group, mentioned to make sure that the circumstances proceed to say no, the present restrictions must be adopted for the subsequent 2-3 weeks. He disclosed that whereas the genome sequencing of the March samples had proven 96% UK variant, just one double mutant case was discovered within the April samples. Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan mentioned outcomes of the samples despatched for genome sampling in April and May had been nonetheless pending.
‘ENSURE BLACK FUNGUS MEDICINES’
A day after Punjab authorities notified Mucor Mycosis (Black Fungus) as a illness below the Epidemic Diseases Act, Amarinder directed officers to make sure that mandatory medicines for treating the identical are made accessible to all the federal government hospitals, together with within the rural areas.
He additionally requested officers to depute medical doctors on the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) within the villages to make sure early detection and remedy of the Black Fungus, which has been reported from many states, within the rural areas.
Stressing that early detection of the illness may stop it from being deadly, the Chief Minister requested the Covid Expert group to make sure that medical doctors within the L3 amenities of all authorities hospitals are directed on correct remedy of Covid sufferers to verify irrational use of steroids, which had been recognized as the primary reason for this illness, particularly amongst diabetic sufferers.
The Chief Minister additionally requested Dr Talwar and his group to analyse why sufferers had been returning to hospitals even after recovering from Covid.