DW BUREAU / chandigarh The Punjab government on Wednesday said those flying in from abroad with up to 96-hour-old COVID negative certificates for themselves can now go for home quarantine in the state. International travellers, who get themselves tested on arrival at the airport, can also go home for quarantine if found negative, as part of the Union government's new directives, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said. He said Punjab is currently at the 17th position in the country in terms of COVID cases. The CM said after the decline in testing due to rumour-mongering and fake propaganda, the number of COVID tests has risen to around 28,000 per day again amid the police crackdown on miscreants spreading misinformation in the state. Pointing out that 28,688 tests were conducted on Tuesday, he said the figures would be raised to 30,000 soon. The focus of the state government is on saving lives, for which early testing is essential, he added. The anti-social elements are defaming Punjab, he said, adding claims of organ harvesting of deceased COVID patients were totally incorrect and illogical, said the CM, warning miscreants spreading such rumours of strict action. "We have to effectively counter such campaigns," he told a group of Congress MLAs as part of his series of video conferences with party legislators and ministers to discuss the COVID situation, according to a government release here. He asked ministers and MLAs to visit their districts and constituencies to take stock of the ground situation over the next three days. With the COVID cases expected to peak in the state in the next two weeks, it is important for the elected representatives and officials to work together to tackle the crisis, he said. The CM asked the MLAs to work with Panchayats to identify the rumour mongers and to activate party workers to check the spread of negative propaganda on COVID. Singh told the members he had already directed the Punjab police chief to ensure strict action against web channels spreading misinformation and would speak to the central government as well as the US ambassador over the foreign web channels reportedly engaged in such negative propaganda. The MLAs suggested the involvement of Panchayats for management of COVID positive patients in villages and setting up of district-level anti-rumour squads of police and civic officials to check the spread of rumours.They suggested stringent measures to check violations of restrictions on the number of people allowed to attend 'Bhogs' etc, especially in villages. A suggestion was made to involve religious organisations to check the spread of the pandemic. Some MLAs asked for CCTV cameras to be installed in isolation wards to allow patients to communicate with their families and friends and permission to relatives of COVID patients to visit isolation wards in PPE kits purchased at own cost, etc. Overcharging by private hospitals was another concern raised by MLAs, some of whom said many of these hospitals were also refusing to attend to COVID patients and needed to be controlled. Health Secretary Hussan Lal apprised the meeting of the latest data on Covid in Punjab, pointing out that 90 per cent of deaths had been reported among level three patients, 7.6 per cent among level two and the remaining of patients in home isolation. (editor@dailyworld.in)