Shimla: With Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur motivating the panchayat heads to play a crucial role to trace and quarantine at the gram panchayat levels all those who returned from other states, locals have also started taking cudgels to protect themselves and community amid the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the people, even in remote places, are now voluntarily preferring home quarantine for minimum 14 days to contain the spread of COVID-19, a government official, who is daily monitoring the arrival of people from outside the state. The government figures say 1.15 lakh people have arrived in the state from across the country with the easing of lockdown restrictions. About 60,000 more have registered with the state for returning to their native places.
With the arrival of people from other states, the number of virus patients has steeply increased, according to official figures. The number of active cases in the state reduced to one on May 1. With the arrival from other states, the patients spiked to 34 till May 16. Chief Minister Thakur, who is daily monitoring the pandemic and regularly interacting with corona warriors at the grassroots, collective efforts are required to tackle the virus. The ‘pradhans’ or village heads must educate people regarding the importance of home quarantine.