The administration will revive the ₹500-fine for those violating home quarantine norms, Health Secretary T. Arun said on Tuesday.
The fine, which was in place during the 2020-pandemic phase, would be re-notified shortly, he told at a press conference.
Last year, the government had imposed ₹500 for those jumping home quarantine and ₹1,000 for violators of isolation norms as part of stringent measures to cut the spread of the virus.
The Health Secretary said a dedicated ambulance fleet had been made available for the smooth transportation of COVID-19 patients from home to hospital or in between healthcare facilities. As part of this, an ambulance each has been provided to a cluster of three PHCs across eight zones for transportation of COVID-19 patients to a healthcare facility, he said. All that had to be done for anyone testing positive was to contact the helpline 104 and the ambulance would be despatched to the house of the patient.
Mr. Arun pointed out that there has not been a single adverse reaction reported since the COVID-19 vaccination programme was rolled out in the Union Territory and had benefited over 1.70 lakh persons to date.
Appealing to those who were yet to take the COVID-19 vaccination to utilise the service which had been made available across multiple facilities and the process simplified, Mr. Arun said there was no need for hesitancy or anxiety to take the jab as there had been no adverse incident even after vaccinating an estimated 12 crore of the population in the country so far.
He also pointed out that while many States faced a shortage of vaccines, the Union Territory had stocks available. The proven strategy against coronavirus was to follow the simple measures of wearing mask, sanitising and social distancing and now, taking the vaccine.
