DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that in the likelihood of COVID-19 spreading fast in rural areas of the state, there is an urgent need to scale up medical facilities. Considering that several cases are being reported from rural areas and the possibility that the infection can further spread, the government should ensure testing and tracing as well as set up medical camps and temporary hospitals in villages, he said. "The government should ensure provision of testing, tracing and medical camps in villages as soon as possible. For this, a task force needs to be created, a help desk needs to be set up and a committee of experts should be appointed," Hooda, who is the leader of opposition in the state assembly, said in a statement on Monday. He also said that the government must step up anti-COVID vaccination in villages. With Haryana currently under lockdown, a measure taken by the state government to check the spread of COVID-19, the Congress leader appealed to residents of rural areas to take precautions in view of rising cases. The state has seen a surge in coronavirus cases during the past few weeks Hooda urged people to understand the seriousness of the crisis and take the same level of precautions they took during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. "Community and brotherhood are a key part of rural Haryana and people use community hookah, play cards, gather at the chaupal and sit down in groups to discuss issues of the village and the state and this is a part of the daily routine in our villages. But these are not normal times and these activities have to be avoided because it increases the risk transmission of the disease," he said in his appeal to villagers. Hooda said that during the first wave of the pandemic, villagers set an example of high discipline to prevent the infection from spreading. "People had set up vigil at the village level and had carried out special announcements to raise awareness about the pandemic and the need for social distancing, and people used to wrap the 'gamcha' (cotton cloth) around their face to avoid infection, " he said. "There is a need to bring back the same level of discipline to prevent further spread of the pandemic in our villages," Hooda said. This, he said, has become necessary "because the infection has reached our villages from the big and small towns of the state and the death toll is rising in rural areas and dozens of people have died in villages like Titoli and Mudhal". (editor@dailyworld.in)