R'than govt to engage 'swasthya mitras' to spread awareness on COVID-19: Gehlot

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Jaipur, Jul 1 () Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said his government will engage 'swasthya mitras' to spread awareness about COVID-19 in all villages of the state.

During a review meeting held through a video conference, the chief minister said the government had conducted a massive awareness campaign in villages and now it will engage 'swasthya mitras' for this purpose, according to an official statement.

Gehlot said his government's objective is to bring down the mortality rate due to coronavirus to negligible.

"Deaths from coronavirus should be negligible in Rajasthan," the chief minister said.

He said the state government will engage 'swasthya mitras' in every village who will play an important role in spreading awareness about the ways to prevent COVID-19 infection, the statement said.

Expressing concern on the rising number of coronavirus cases, the chief minister said people will have to strictly follow preventive measures such as wearing masks, frequent hand washing, not spitting in public places and maintaining social distancing.

Gehlot said despite an increase in the number of active cases in the past a few days, the death rate in the state was lower than the national average.

During the video conference, Health minister Raghu Sharma said the work of door-to-door survey will be taken forward in the current phase of the coronavirus lockdown.

He said Rajasthan is the first state to conduct a comprehensive campaign for public awareness, which started across the state from June 21.

Chief Secretary DB Gupta informed that a strategy for random testing is being chalked out in the districts where migrant workers have come in large numbers.

State ministers, district collectors and other officials also attended the CM's video conference, the statement said.

Earlier, in another video conference, the chief minister said the state government is working on strengthening medical and health infrastructure during the pandemic.

He said the state stands on top in the management of coronavirus and it is doing better than other state on parameters like recovery rate and sample testing.

Gehlot said that the state's priority now is to bring economic activities back on track.

Gehlot also inaugurated buildings of medical institutions. Foundation stones of various other projects related to the medical sector were also laid. SDA AD RDK RDK