from Nuh, Gurugram

Cases of coronavirus rose to 43 in Haryana on Friday, with Nuh and Gurugram being among the districts to report fresh cases, officials said.

As per the Health Department's bulletin, three persons who reported Covid-19 positive are natives of Kerala while two others who tested positive in Gurugram hail from Maharashtra. One more person who tested positive in Gurugram belongs to Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing media via digital link, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajiv Arora said, Total number of positive cases as of Friday morning was 43. Out of total number of positive cases, 13 have been discharged".

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Vijai Vardhan and DGP Manoj Yadava were also present.

Among the 30 active cases, six are from Gurugram, five from Faridabad, three from Ambala, one from Hisar, three from Nuh, three from Palwal, two from Panipat, two from Panchkula, one from Rohtak, three from Sirsa and one from Sonipat, he said.

Haryana recorded its first COVID-19 death on Thursday when a 67-year-old man from Ambala, who as per doctors had multiple underlying health conditions, passed away at the PGIMER here.

Arora detailed the steps which the health department is taking to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.

We have already set up a round-the-clock helpline cum control room which has been attached with telemedicine services for people who are not able to avail of services of doctors, Arora said.

He said in the government sector, one laboratory is functional at PGIMS at Rohtak and another one in Sonipat.

We are also in the process of setting up labs in Nuh, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Panchkula, he said and added that the government has already given permission to five private laboratories in Gurugram for testing.

The state, he said, has 7,346 isolation beds for Covid patients.

We have six government and aided medical colleges and 25 hospitals which have been designated as part Covid hospitals, he said.

He also said that government has earmarked the ESIC hospitals in Gurugram and Faridabad as exclusive Covid hospitals and we are also trying to include World College of Medical Sciences and Research as one of the major Covid centres in Jhajjar.

On reports of doctors and paramedical staff facing shortage of PPEs, he said, "There has been lot of talk about availability of personal protection equipment, N-95 mask and other things. In the last one week, lot of things have improved. Now, we have more than 19,000 PPE kits, 90,000 of N-95 masks and more than 10 lakh triple ply masks which are available in different hospitals in Haryana.

The supply of PPE kits is being ramped up through the Centre and direct purchase by state government, he said.

We have 1,282 ventilators and we have ordered over 200 more ventilators which we will be installing from April 10, he added.