Ludhiana administration to register FIRs against COVID-19 guideline violators

Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], March 9 (ANI): In wake of surge in the cases of COVID-19 in Punjab's Ludhiana, Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana Varinder Kumar Sharma and Commissioner of Police Rakesh Agrawal on Tuesday warned that FIRs under National Disaster Management Act would be registered against persons who violate COVID-19 guidelines in the district.
The Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of Police held a meeting with the representatives of private hospitals and religious heads at Police Lines here today.
"The Punjab government has already enforced a limit of 200 for outdoor gatherings and 100 for indoor gatherings. In case of any violation regarding this, FIR under National Disaster Management Act would not only be registered against the organiser but also against the owner of the property," the officials said.
Sharma said, "It is alarming that the number of COVID-19 positive cases is on the rise since the last few days and today, 125 persons have tested positive and 149 are hospitalised in private and 13 at Civil Hospital Ludhiana."
He said that earlier, this number had gone low, but as some persons are not following the rules, the cases are on the rise.
Sharma directed the private hospitals to earmark 80 percent of their existing COVID-19 beds (which they had earmarked during the peak of the pandemic) for treatment of the positive patients.
The officials also urged the people in Ludhiana to strictly wear masks, maintain social distancing and follow all COVID-19 related protocols, else strict action would be taken against them.
The officers said that these strict measures are to be adopted to check the spread of COVID-19 in the district.
The meeting was also attended by ADC Sandeep Kumar, Joint CP Deepak Pareek, DCP Ashwani Kapoor, ADC (General) Amarjit Bains, Civil Surgeon Sukhjeevan Kakkar and many other officials.
"There are 8,020 active COVID-19 cases in Punjab," informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
"1,75,659 people have recovered from the disease in the state till now, the death toll stands to 5941," the ministry said. (ANI)