Coronavirus Update: Desist from playing with COVID-19 death data, focus on providing relief to people, advises Haryana CM

Amid the worsening COVID-19 situation, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that there is no point in debating whether COVID-related deaths are more or less and all attention should be focused on the health of the people.

Speaking to mediapersons on Monday, Khattar said: "Jis prakaar ka sankat (COVID-19) aaya hai, humko data ke saath nahi khelna hai. Logo ka swaasthy kaise theek ho, kaise hum unko raahat pahucha sake, saara dhyaan udhar hona chahiye. (In this type of crisis, we should not play with the data. All attention should be focussed on how to help people recover to good health and how to provide relief to them)."

He further said that there is no meaning in debating on whether the COVID deaths are more or less and rather the focus should be on whether the facilities are reaching the public.

"Those who have died will not come back to life even after our yelling. We are trying every alternative available to save people... We need the support of everybody, even the patients," he said.

Speaking on the availability of oxygen in the state, Khattar informed that the administration is trying to raise the oxygen quota of the state to 240 metric tonnes, which was earlier fixed at 162 MTs.

"We are not facing any difficulty as of now. But observing the current trend, we are trying to increase our quota. Instead of 162 MTs, we have requested to increase our quota to 240 MTs. We have received additional 20 MTs from Jamshedpur," he said.

The Chief Minister also said that he visited the oxygen gas plants in Hisar and Panipat to take stock of the construction of temporary hospitals there.

"We had announced 500 beds near the gas plants in Hisar and Panipat. The location has been finalised and the work will begin from tomorrow. The structure will be created within three to four days," Khattar told media.

He also said that 1,250 beds are being arranged in medical colleges and additional 650 beds will be provided to PGIMS Rohtak, where 350 beds are already available for COVID-19 patients.

The Haryana Chief Minister also urged private hospitals to not admit patients above their capacity, adding that his administration was working round the clock to provide liquid oxygen tankers and cylinders to the medical institutions.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Haryana has a total of 4,31,981 COVID-19 cases along with 3,842 deaths. There are a total of 79,466 active cases in the state.

(ANI)