DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The Punjab government on Saturday announced a special health insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh each for policemen and sanitation workers who are in the frontline of the battle against the coronavirus threat. As an emergency measure to combat the deadly virus, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also authorised the Procurement Committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to do quick price discovery for all purchases related to COVID-19 management and containment, and make purchases on urgent basis, a statement issued said. The committee has been authorised to make spot purchases and exigency procurement, bypassing normal procedures, in exercise of emergency powers under the National Disaster Management Act 2005, it said.  The cabinet also allowed the committee to procure essential and emergent medical items at prevalent market prices as the same had risen substantially due to widespread demand to combat COVID-19, the statement said.  The chief minister directed that no bureaucratic hassles should be allowed to come in the way of any urgent purchases that may be needed in this critical hour. The cabinet announced a special health insurance cover of Rs 50 lakhs each for police personnel and sanitation workers who are in the frontline of the battle against COVID-19, on the lines of the insurance cover announced earlier by the Centre for such people, the statement said. Taking serious note of shutdown of operations by several private hospitals, the cabinet decided a strict action against them, with the chief minister suggesting that the health department should cancel their licences for refusing to treat COVID-19 patients, it said. Singh termed it as a cowardly act and said the hospitals cannot go into hiding at such a critical juncture. The Council of Ministers, which met through a video conferencing to review the current situation in the state, decided that the arrangements to manage COVID-19 patients should be scaled up gradually to cater to larger number of patients, keeping in view harvesting and procurement of wheat, rising trend in the country and the state as well as apprehensions of community spread (stage 3) and prevalence of an unknown and unprecedented pandemic, the statement said. (editor@dailyworld.in)