COVID-19: HP has suffered Rs 410 cr revenue loss due to lockdown, says CM

Himachal Pradesh has borne a loss of Rs 410 crore in the last 30 days due to the lockdown clamped to contain the spread of COVID-19, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Monday.

Talking to mediapersons here, the chief minister accompanied by chief secretary Anil Khachi and director general of police Sita Ram Mardi said the loss in revenue will be compensated and the state government's topmost priority was to save lives.

The state earned a mere Rs 40 crore in the last 30 days against the average monthly earnings of Rs 450 crore. So, the state exchequer had to bear a loss of Rs 410 crore, he said.

The state's private sector including the tourism industry also suffered a huge loss due to the lockdown but our topmost priority is to save the lives of the people of Himachal Pradesh, he said.

Thakur said the state government had to take some unpleasant decisions like closing educational institutions, temples during navratras and banning entry of tourists as there was no other option to check the spread of coronavirus in the state.

These harsh steps have yielded positive results, however, the state's COVID-19 tally witnessed a spike due to Nizamuddin Markaz returnees, he said. As many as 25 of total 39 cases tested positive in the state are of either either those who attended the Tablighi Jamat congregation in Delhi or their contacts, he added.

After the state government issued a stern warning to the Jamatis, several of them and their contacts came forward for testing, he said further.

Meanwhile, Khachi said 77 per cent of the total cases in the hill-state are asymptomatic. Out of 39 COVID-19 positive cases, 36 are males and 3 females, while the average age of the patients is 38, he said.

The chief secretary said that the state has a stock of 4,500 personal protection equipment (PPE), 15,000 N 95 masks and 64 ventilators.

Efforts are on to procure more PPEs to increase the stock upto 50,000 PPEs, he added.

"We have got 5,000 rapid testing kits from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far against our demand of 30,000 kits," he said.

Besides, the state has a 855 hospital beds including 53 in the intensive care units (ICUs) for confirmed COVID-19 patients, he said, adding that 9000 beds for institutional quarantine were available as well.