Chandigarh, Jun 28 (IANS): Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan on Sunday asked the Deputy Commissioners to take whatever steps possible to arrest the mortality rate in the state so that it could be brought down from the current 2.4 per cent.

The effort should be on saving every life amid the pandemic, she said, directing the Deputy Commissioners to take special care of critical patients, and directed them to take the help of the state expert group chaired by K.K. Talwar.

Reviewing the state's preparedness to contain the further spread of the deadly disease at her first video conference meeting since taking over as the Chief Secretary, Mahajan expressed concern over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and said it was the duty of every Deputy Commissioner to go the extra mile to ensure proper surveillance and also arrest the fatality rate.

The Chief Secretary instructed them to allow Covid patients to go to private hospitals at their own expense if they so wished. They should also allow patients in government centres to get their own food, etc, if needed.

She said the state was working to increase the corona testing capacity to 20,000 per day with the four new testing labs, approved recently by the state, expected to be operational soon.