Chandigarh: Healthcare professionals and other frontline medical workers who skip Covid-19 vaccination won’t get financial help from the authorities for treatment if they get infected later and won’t be allowed to take quarantine or isolation leave, the Punjab government has said.

The northern Inidian state government has taken a serious view of reports that some healthcare workers are choosing not to get vaccinated, amid rising cases of Covid-19 in some states and low rate of inoculation in Punjab.

“Healthcare workers who do not get vaccinated to boost their immunity for Covid-19, despite being given repeated opportunities and in case they get the infection at a later stage, they will have to bear the cost of their treatment and they will not be allowed to avail quarantine or isolation leave,” Punjab Health Minister Balbir Sidhu said in a statement February 21.

Sidhu said Covid-19 cases in Punjab have been rising in recent days, and with 358 cases reported on February 20, some 3,000 cases are active in Punjab.

“There is a dire need to get vaccinated for all healthcare workers to deal with any unprecedented situation. Punjab is among the six states where COVID-19 cases are rising and we should prepare to fight it like a second wave,” the minister said.

“These rising cases indicate that Covid-19 is not over yet and Punjab may witness a surge in the number of cases. This highlights the need for following Covid-19 appropriate behavior like social distancing, wearing mask, hand sanitization and respiratory etiquettes,” Sidhu said.

Expressing concern over the low rate of vaccination among healthcare workers, the Health Minister said so far 206,000 healthcare workers and 182,000 frontline workers have registered for Covid-19 vaccination.

“Some 79,000 or 38 percent healthcare workers and 4,000 frontline workers have been vaccinated and this coverage has not been up to the mark. The vaccine is safe and effective and not even a single case of death or any serious adverse effect has been reported in Punjab… No one should be misled by rumours and misinformation,” the Health Minister said.

Meanwhile Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called the coronavirus situation in the western Indian state “serious” and warned that lockdown would have to be reimposed if daily Covid cases continue to rise in the next two weeks.

In a virtual address, he said it would take “8 to 15 days” to ascertain if the current upsurge in daily figures is a fresh wave of infections. He also warned people to follow coronavirus protocols to avoid lockdown.

After a lull of three months, Maharashtra, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country, reported over 6,000 daily cases February 19. On February 21, the state recorded 6,971 cases and 35 deaths. Mumbai, the state capital, logged 921 infections.

Amravati district in Maharashtra will impose lockdown for a week from February 22 amid rising cases of Covid-19 in the state. Cabinet Minister Yashomati Thakur said.

The government said only essential services will be allowed to function during the strict seven-day lockdown.

The lockdown will be extended if people do not follow safety rules, the minister said, adding the decision to stop all non-essential activity was taken after Covid-19 cases continued to rise in Maharashtra.

The announcement for the lockdown in Amravati comes hours after the district administration in Pune shut down schools and coaching centers until February 28. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met with senior officials to assess the COVID-19 situation in the district before taking the decision.

Earlier, Maharashtra minister Vijay Wadettiwar said plan to impose night curfew. “Coronavirus cases are rising in Nagpur, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Mumbai and Pune. We have asked the district administration to take a call on lockdown or other restrictions after assessing the situation on the ground,” adettiwar said.

Maharashtra today reported 6,971 fresh cases and 35 deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Of these, 921 cases were reported from Mumbai. Some 2,417 were discharged from hospital.

The cases are also rising in some states amid the Covid-19 vaccination drive. 240 new strains of the coronavirus have surfaced across India, which are behind the fresh surge of infections being seen since last week, Dr Shahshank Joshi, member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 Task Force, has told NDTV.

Another state with worrying signs of Covid19 resurgence is Kerala in southern India.

On February 21, Kerala recorded 4,070 new Covid-19 cases and 15 fatalities.

The health department is on high alert after repeated incidents showed that Covid patients and others, who were directed to undergo quarantine, did not follow protocols and tried to escape from the state. Recently, six persons were nabbed at the Cochin International Airport with the help of health officials and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel. The district health department warned of strict action against violators after a similar incident happened on Friday, according to a news report.

Sources: ndtv.com, indianexpress.com