DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH WITH 128 Punjab manufacturers approved for production of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking permission to export the surplus. The Chief Minister said these manufacturers had risen to the occasion in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak to make Punjab self-reliant in the manufacture of this critical equipment needed by frontline warriors in the fight against the pandemic. Permitting them to export the PPE body coveralls "would also give an impetus to the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan recently launched by the government of India under your leadership," he said in his letter to the Prime Minister, requesting him to consider giving permission" for the same. Citing the surplus capacity of production and quality of products manufactured by these units, which started production after obtaining certification from the DRDO, Singh said it appeared that there was not enough domestic demand of PPE at present. These manufacturers are finding it difficult to obtain orders from HLL, he pointed out, adding that of the 128 approved manufacturers, only 18 units have received orders from the government of India. The Chief Minister recalled that on May 21 the Punjab Industries and Commerce Minister has written to Chief Ministers of all states to consider directing their respective Health Departments to place orders on Punjab's PPE body coverall manufacturers at HLL rates. The minister has also made a request to the Union Commerce and Industries Minister, requesting for allowing export of surplus PPE body coveralls from the country, he further noted. Notably, the 128 approved manufacturers have a cumulative current capacity to manufacture 5,21,050 PPE coveralls every day. Meanwhile, to curb the spread of coronavirus in urban slums of five districts, where maximum cases have been reported, the Punjab government has chalked out a city preparedness plan. Health Minister Balbir Sidhu said, here on Thursday, 54 per cent of Covid-19 cases were reported from Amritsar, Ludhiana Jalandhar, SAS Nagar and Patiala districts. To control the spread, a sub-panel of the district disaster management committee has now included the community medicine faculty from a medical college, WHO and a prominent NGO. He said the dedicated panel would assist the city administration in preparing epidemic preparedness plans, their implementation, monitoring and reporting in consultation with the Health Department. "After getting inputs from these panels, a state-level committee would take the decision regarding sample collection, testing and reporting to reduce turnaround time to less than 24 hours from the collection of sample to reporting of results," he said. The Minister said a house-to-house surveillance campaign and testing process would be reviewed every day, especially in containment and micro containment zones. Sidhu said over 215,000 samples had been collected. Additional flu corners have been set up in all health institutions, including health wellness centres, where all details of symptomatic persons have been forwarded for further action. The COVID-19 death toll reached 130 in Haryana, 102 in Karnataka, 90 in Andhra Pradesh, 78 in Punjab, 65 in Jammu and Kashmir, 44 in Bihar, 26 in Uttarakhand, 20 in Kerala and 11 in Odisha. (editor@dailyworld.in)