Hamirpur, Mar 5: Although the state government has started an anti COVID-19 vaccination drive to the aged people and Corona warriors to save them from the wrath of the Coronavirus yet the Corona cases were still prevalent in all parts of the state except in the district of Lahaul and Spiti.

The situation is also becoming alarming in the district of Hamirpur that was declared Corona free two week ago and new cases have started surfacing thereby giving sleepless nights to the authorities and the people both.

The district of Hamirpur is having sixteen active cases out of 3,065 positive cases at present. Forty-nine people have already died due to the dreaded virus and the number of cured cases has touched the 2,999 mark as on Thursday night.

Incidentally, females were turning positive in large numbers and is a matter of serious concern for the women folk.

Information reaching here revealed that the non observation of social distancing and failure to wear face masks on one hand and travelling in the jam packed buses and other vehicles has led to the new situation and it has upset the authorities a lot.

Not only this, the non observance of social distancing in shops and other commercial establishments is also a matter of concern and may invite further trouble to the people in general and the authorities in particular.

Sources in the administration said that the Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur had a talk with the district officers and enquired about the sudden spurt of COVID-19 in their respective areas. He told them to take all precautions and put challans against those that were violating the orders issued to contain the COVID-19.

With the marriage season approaching in the month of April 2022, the worries of the state government and the district administration seems to be genuine as worrisome.

During the marriages, the situation becomes beyond the control when people mix up with each other and incidentally if anyone of them is positive, he/she could spread the virus to others thereby leading to community spreading of the virus as it was earlier.

Sources in the health department on anonymity told UNI that the situation if not controlled would become critical as the Corona had spread last year too in the month of March 2020 and accordingly curfew was imposed on March 23rd, 2020.

According to the sources, with the educational institutions going to open fully from April 1st and at present, students are taking part in their annual examination through the systems, the offline and the online, the situation is already under control. But when all would be together it will be difficult to segregate them and to see whether they are all-right or not.

With the examination season is on, a number of students told UNI that they had to face the wrath of their colleagues that wanted to hug them after meeting after a gap of one full year. One of them Rakesh Kumar said that when he refused to oblige his friends they turned angry and said that our friendship is over now.

It’s worth mentioning here that in Hamirpur district, out of 3,065 positive cases, most of were among those who had come from other parts of the country to their home places when restrictions were lifted by the state government to help their own people to return to their roots.

As per latest information released by the state health department, the number of total positive cases was 58,942 including 540 active cases. 983 people have lost their lives in the state during the last one year and the number of total cured cases was 57,406.

With the situation becoming alarming day by day and number of active cases numbering 540 including 241 in Kangra district alone are still prevalent in the state except in the district of Lahaul and Spiti, what action the government takes to control the second strain of the virus to spread is a serious issue and needed strong handed approach, admits one of the top officers of the department of health, who wanted not to name him in the media. (UNI)