Chandigarh, May 6 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday directed deputy commissioners to increase COVID-19 testing and contact-tracing efforts, especially in rural areas, to check the spread of the virus.

Addressing a review meeting, Khattar said special screening camps should be set up in villages so that anyone having COVID-19 symptoms can be treated early and the possibility of the infection spreading further prevented.

"Improved testing capacity together with aggressive contact-tracing is the key to reduce the positivity rate," he said.

The chief minister said more emphasis should be laid on conducting rapid antigen tests and organising health check-up and awareness camps.

He said concrete steps have been taken by his government to ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen and availability of both ICU and oxygen-equipped beds in the state.

The state's current daily oxygen quota is 257 MT, and a request has been made to the central government to enhance it to 300 MT, he added.

Khattar asked the deputy commissioners to ensure unloading of the tankers in the shortest span of time so that the oxygen supply chain remains intact.

The chief minister said deputy commissioners have to play a pivotal role in the fight against the viral disease with aggressive surveillance, stringent containment, focused clinical management along with proactive Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities.

Khattar also directed the officers to regularly audit the availability of oxygen, beds and medicines at hospitals.

District-level teams for monitoring oxygen supply and demand of every hospital should be constituted across the state at the earliest, the chief minister said in the meeting.

Khattar was apprised by the officials that a system was being chalked out for providing oxygen supply to COVID-19 patients in home-isolation.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)