Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday explained how the state government developed its own model to fight novel coronavirus outbreak in one of the worst-affected states of the country. Gehlot said religious leaders and chemists played important role in ensuring effective fight against Covid-19.
“We reached out to religious leaders from all faiths seeking their help in fighting coronavirus. We told them all that this disease is difficult to control without people’s support. We asked them to tell their followers to cooperate with health workers. Initially, there was some confusion, now everyone is cooperating,” said Gehlot speaking at E-Agenda Aaj Tak event.
Gehlot said apart from religious leaders and activists, chemists were roped in as part of counter-Covid-19 strategy. Chemists have been asked in Rajasthan to note down the contact details of anybody who visits them to buy medication for influenza-like illnesses (ILI).
He said symptoms of ILI are same as Covid-19 and this step has helped state have a better picture of coronavirus spread in a region. Gehlot said the much-talked about Bhilwara model remains central to the state’s fight against coronavirus.
He said, “Under Bhilwara model, we reached out to 6 lakh families. Some 14,000 people were found to have symptoms similar to Covid-19. We tested them and it has worked for us.”
“We are following what is called ruthless containment model,” said Gehlot.
He welcomed extension of lockdown for the second time by two more weeks. He said, “Extension of lockdown was expected. Enforcing lockdown is easy but lifting is difficult. It cannot happen in one go. It was expected that it would be lifted in phases. Now, the same has happened with the Centre classifying districts into three zones.”
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