PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister V Narayanasamy blamed the people for the spike in COVID-19 cases, after 17 persons who attended a wedding tested positive for the virus.
Narayanasamy in an audio/video clip to newsmen said that the recovery rate in the UT is 65 percent and the death rate 1.4 percent. But regretted that the people are not following the guidelines of COVID prevention and thus spreading the virus.
On Saturday 17 persons from Vaithikuppam were infected and inquiries revealed that it is due to their attending a marriage in which over two hundred people participated violating the norms of 50 persons. There was no social distancing and hence, the COVID spread from an infected person, he said.
Even in vegetable, fish and meat markets, people are not observing social distancing. Markets and marriages are the areas from where the virus is spreading, he said adding that the containment of the virus is now in the hands of the people, he said.
Hereafter, only three houses, one affected and the other two on either side of the affected will be declared as a containment zone and the entire street will not be sealed, as containment zones, he added.
The Chief Minister said that the centre is yet to approve the budget proposals and the cabinet meeting convened on Friday evening hence could not finalise the Lt Governor’s address and the budget speech, though these were the agenda of the meeting. However some other decisions were taken after altering the agenda and the meeting was closed thereafter, he said.
There has been a demand from different quarters to conduct the budget session for a longer period, he said. However, the time is not suitable to hold the session for a long duration. He cited that several states had ended their sessions in a short duration.
He also cited similar decisions by the parliament. However, in Puducherry, the speaker of the territorial assembly will take a decision on the basis of the recommendations of the business advisory committee he added.
The Chief Minister maintained that the students of final year who are to appear for University examinations, be passed on the basis of their semester marks, as maintenance of social distancing while conducting examinations would be difficult.
He said adding that he had written to the Union Human Resource Development Minister in this regard, after the central government gave directions for conducting all final year university examinations.
Moreover, the Post Graduate medical students met him and apprised him that they are in the field fighting COVID and need time to prepare for the examination and requested him to take steps to postpone the examinations, he added.