Chandigarh, Jul 2 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday released a COVID-19 manual as a single reference point for all healthcare providers.

The Punjab COVID-19 clinical management manual has an overall aim of reducing the mortality rate through a cohesive and coordinated approach dealing with all facets of the pandemic, said an official release.

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Describing the manual as a force multiplier for his government's 'Mission Fateh', the chief minister said it will serve as a bridge between the national protocol and the state's requirements on COVID management.

It will give healthcare providers dealing with the care and management of coronavirus positive patients easy access to the tools needed for better handling of the pandemic, Singh said in an official release here.

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The manual incorporates easy to understand audio visual aids, colour coded assessment tools and referral criteria based on practical experiences, along with best practices in the clinical management of COVID positive patients.

It caters to the treatment needs of all COVID cases - from mild and moderate to severe.

For mild cases, it incorporates a self-assessment questionnaire and home-based tests to assess the progress of asymptomatic patients in home isolation, said the release.          

It carries an updated list of dedicated experts available in every district to assist the district medical team in dealing with cases which require expert care, to keep fatality as low as possible. PTI CHS VSD RHL 07022154 NNNNke audio atmosphere generated by the channels.

No, thanks. That ranks with laugh tracks, lip synching and ghostwriting. So it's natural sound for me — the agitated strains of players, coaches and the ball being kicked and headed.

The first two matches I watched, my team lost. Once, against a superior team, barely registered on the anger scales. The second, against an inferior one, rankled due to a long-term injury to our goalkeeper because of unnecessary foul play from an opponent who then rubbed salt in the wound by scoring the winning goal in the dying seconds.

But it passed quickly, quicker than it ever would have in the past. A close friend and colleague who has also supported Arsenal all his life felt the same watching live from New York in our hyper-connected world. We WhatsApp-ed, then moved on with the rest of our weekends.

The same friend and I had attended a match that we still reminisce about where a winning goal, a penalty deep into stoppage time, had sent my row bonkers, us included, and seemed to take the roof off.

Those are the joys. Camaraderie with several people I sit with as a season ticket holder for more than a quarter century. The pre-match rituals, the pub for a couple looseners (or not, in the event my teenage son, who has gone off the game in the last few years, accompanies me — a rare treat).

Then on Thursday, a win — but dreary watching nonetheless. I'll keep watching the matches every few days as the league races to complete the interrupted season. But let's not kid ourselves: Like so much else, this was a financial decision as lockdowns are eased across the world to resuscitate flatlining economies.

Hundreds of millions in various currencies are at stake for the monstrous cash-cow brand; global TV rights are in the balance.

But the first ''home"" game of the pandemic rest-of-season this week will feel especially soulless to view denuded of fans and denuded of me. And I cannot even fathom when it will cease to be insanity to attend an event with some 60,000 other people again.

Memories fortify. Maybe Humphrey Bogart's Rick was right in ''Casablanca'': "We'll always have ...'' ___

Virus Diary, an occasional feature, showcases the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of Associated Press journalists around the world. See previous entries here. AP

(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)