New Delhi: From thematic taglines to messages on safety norms printed on prescription slips and power bills, a focussed campaign has just got underway to raise awareness on steps to be taken by people to contain the COVID-19 in the national capital, sources said. However, it has been implemented at just a couple of places, and very soon people will see its visibility on a larger scale, including posters on buses and in metro trains, they said.
Doctors from various city government-run hospitals and senior government officials from various departments recently met to chalk out the strategy for rolling out the campaign, they said, adding, the campaign is an initiative of the Centre, and it is being implemented earlier here as Delhi is a densely populated city and festival season is round the corner. “It is a very focussed campaign with emphasis on observing all safety precautions in public and other places. This will include message printed on OPD prescription slips, power and water bills, other documents, posters, etc, so that more people read it, more frequently,” an official source said.
Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility has already implemented the drive, with thematic badges bearing safety precautions messages, made for its staff, which they wear during duty. The idea is to “drill it in people’s psyche” so that wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, following hand hygiene, becomes a regular habit, in this COVID-19 situation, he said.
So, messages like ‘wear masks’ or ‘maintain social distancing’ with a graphic representation will be printed on prescription slips and power bills, etc, he added. Besides, special thematic taglines and posters have also been planned, the source said.
“These taglines will be printed on papers, and also on lab coats of some doctors so that top of mind awareness can be raised,” he added. This campaign especially assumes significance as festive season is about to begin, starting with Durga Puja, then Diwali and Chhath and Christmas, the source said.
Experts in a report recently cautioned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 per day taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings. The report drafted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the guidance of the expert group under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul has recommended the Delhi government to make arrangements for hospitalisation of about one-fifth of these patients with moderate and severe disease.
“The fear of cases exploding is there, so this campaign seeks to raise awareness as festive kicks in soon, and gatherings and market crowds might trigger again inordinate rise in cases,” a Delhi government hospital doctor, said on condition of anonymity. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been constantly telling public to observe safety precautions and not take the situation casually just because the economy had been reopened.
Jain, himself a COVID-19 survivor, has also been flagging that one of the reasons behind daily cases showing upward trend in September, has been non-compliance of safety norms by a few people. Experts too have been cautioning people and telling them to still treat it as a “health emergency situation” and follow all safety precautions.
The national capital recorded 29 COVID-19 fatalities on Sunday, taking the death toll to 5,769 while 2,780 fresh cases took the infection tally to over 3.09 lakh, authorities said. On Saturday, 48 deaths were recorded. On September 29 as well, 48 fatalities were reported in the city, the highest number of deaths recorded in a day since July 16, when Delhi saw 58 fatalities.
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