Chief Minister interacts with journalists of the state through video conferencing

Raipur/ Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Shri Bhupesh Baghel said that the Decision regarding calling off lockdown will be taken after Prime Minister’s video conference tomorrow, at cabinet meeting of the state to be held on April 12. . He said that objective behind taking the decision to call off lockdown will be to strike a balance between daily life and livelihood. Chief Minister expressed these views while addressing journalists via video conferencing. In this conference, nearly 55 representatives from Raipur, Bastar, Sarguja, Bilaspur, Durg Divisions participated.
Chief Minister said that we need to replace the words such as social distancing with physical distancing. This change will save the people returning from migration, other states, and people of weaker section of society from repercussions of social distancing. Chief Minister said that inspired by the lockdown implemented by the administration, people of rural areas have been practicing self-motivated discipline to prevent the spread of the disease, for which they deserve appreciation.
In response to a question, Chief Minister Mr. Bhupesh Baghel said that none of the people of Tablighi Jamat, who had attended Nizamuddin Markaz and returned to Chhattisgarh, are missing. 107 people have returned from there and all of them have been identified. They have been kept in quarantine and their samples have been collected. Travel history of people they have come in contact have been traced. He said that SIB of Andhra Pradesh had released list of 159 people on the basis of mobile tower data, which was incorrect. This list included names of even those people who had only passed by that location. These people had not attended Markaz. Later, Government of India had collected information about people who went inside markaz, and identified 107 people.
In response to a question asked by media representatives, Chief Minister said that AIIMS Raipur and Medical College Jagdalpur in state have corona virus testing facility. Presently, MEKAHARA Hospital of capital city Raipur has the permission to perform tests. We have quarantine facility and enough quantity of ventilators. State Government has processed tender for testing kits and soon testing kits will be available. He also informed that ration, vegetables, medicines, fertilizers-seeds etc essential services have been given permission to continue with the supply. After diagnosis of new cases in Katghora, 100% lockdown has been implemented in Katghora and each and every person there is being tested. Nine out of 18 corona affected in state have recovered.
Chief Minister said that corona infection started spreading from China to rest of the world. If people coming from international flights from that country were tested and quarantined at the right time, this infection wouldn’t have spread in the country. He told that borders of the state have been sealed, only transport of essential services have been allowed, so as to prevent the corona virus infection from spreading. He told that ration of two months is being distributed to the beneficiaries, mahua and tamarind is being procured in scheduled areas at support price with the help of forest committees and self-help groups. Nodal officers have been appointed to help labourers of Chhattisgarh stranded in other states, and helpline number has also been released. All the necessary arrangements have been made for these labourers. Health Department has given instructions to conduct test for corona infection randomly as well.