Fighting On A War Footing

Haryanan is a key state, bordering as it does, the National Capital Territory of Delhi on three sides. Haryana is also among the states where both the manufacturing industry and agriculture are significant contributors to both the state’s and the national economy. The state is a key agricultural state and a manufacturing hub of the automotive industry, where some major corporate houses have set up their headquarters. 

Haryana’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for FY 2020-21 (at current prices) is estimated to be Rs 9,39,720 crore. The State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) is the largest component of Haryana’s tax revenue and accounts for 25 per cent of its revenue receipts. Haryana was expected to generate Rs 22,350 crore in SGST in 2020-21, 13.3 per cent higher than the revised estimate of the 2019-20 financial year. But that was before the onset of the pandemic. 

The state budget presented on 28 February, 2020, estimated a revenue of Rs 10,702 crore from sales tax/ VAT during the 2020-21 financial year. In the wake of the pandemic and the lockdown it necessitated, these revenue estimates may not measure up to expectations when the state budget for the coming fiscal is presented in less than 40 days.  

Strategic Importance

Since Haryana surrounds the national capital on the north, west and south of Delhi, a large part of the state’s territory is included in the economically-important National Capital Region for purposes of planning and development. The 2011 census pegged Haryana’s population at 25,350,000. 

The state of Haryana has various medical colleges, including the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Bhagat Phool Singh Medical College in Sonipat district, ESIC Medical College, Faridabad along with notable private medical institutes like Medanta, Max Hospital,  Gurgaon, and Fortis Healthcare.

Prompt Measures

The first novel coronavirus case in Haryana was reported on 4 March 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020. On the same day, the Haryana state government issued ‘The Haryana  

Epidemic Disease, Covid-19 Regulations, 2020’. Soon after the state government designated 11 government laboratories and eight private laboratories for Covid testing, along with five other government laboratories for CB NAAT / True NAAT testing. All government/ government aided and private medical colleges in the state were asked to reserve at least 25 per cent of their beds for Covid patients. 

As of 19 January, the total number of Covid cases in Haryana was 2,66,581, of whom 1,69,056 were male, 97,510 were female and 15 were transgenders. The tally includes 1,837 active cases and 26,1751 recovered patients. The pandemic led to 2,993 deaths in Haryana. 

The Vaccination Drive

Haryana has embarked on the vaccination drive against the coronavirus on a war footing. At least 5,044 vaccinators, 765 public health facilities and 3,634 private health facilities have been registered across Haryana on the CoWin app. 

As many as 1,005 supervisors and 18,921 social sites have also reportedly been registered on the app. Vaccine stores have already been set up at 22 districts in Haryana. At least 6.7 million recipients have been identified for the first phase of the programme. 

Not counting some minor technical glitches in the CoWin app – an online platform for monitoring the delivery and administration of the Covid-19 vaccine – the vaccination drive is picking up pace in the state of Haryana, going by the claims of the state health department officials. 

Overall, around 67 lakh people will get vaccinated in the state in the first phase. Three categories of recipients have been chosen for the first round, comprising healthcare workers, frontline workers,  

people above 50 years of age and those below 50 years of age who have comorbidities. 

The First Phase

In the first week beginning 16 January, around two lakh healthcare workers in Haryana were identified for the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Those chosen for the first phase of inoculation also included around 4.5 lakh frontline workers, including employees of urban local bodies, safaikarmacharis, police personnel, civil defence personnel, jail staff and revenue department employees.  

“Similarly, about 58 lakh people who are above 50 years of age and about 2.25 lakh people below 50 years, but suffering from other ailments, will be given vaccination shots,” said Haryana’s Health Minister Anil Vij. 

Distribution

According to Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Arora, the state received the vaccine phials at Chandigarh airport, which were then transported to the state’s warehouse in Kurukshetra by road. Now, a process is on to distribute the vaccines from Kurukshetra to four regional vaccination centres set up in Hissar, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Kurukshetra. “Subsequently, it will be distributed to the cold chains that have been set up across all 22 districts,” Arora informed media. “In the first batch, approximately two lakh people will be administered the first dose. It will take about three to four days to complete the process,” Arora added.