Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Tuesday the Punjabi attitude of 'koyi gal nahin' was causing people to delay their Covid-19 testing until it became inevitable, warning them it could prove detrimental in some cases.
Singh blamed the attitude for the higher-than-Haryana mortality rate in Punjab.
While this was a nice attitude, he said, it could prove detrimental in some cases.
He said he had conveyed this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi too earlier Tuesday.
"The concern at present, however, was the rising number of Covid cases in the state, with the Punjabi spirit of 'koyi gal nahin' (no worries) causing people to delay going for testing and treatment," said Singh.
He was addressing a virtual meeting with industry leaders, including Hindustan Unilever Ltd CMD Sanjiv Mehta, Biocon's Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Tech Mahindra MD C P Gurnani.
Earlier during a video conference with Prime Minister Modi to review the COVID-19 situation, the chief minister said the cases in the state have reached 24,891 with 604 deaths.
Singh said the state had seen cases go up from 500 to 1,000 in two weeks, with the positivity rate of the last five days at 8.73 per cent.
The majority of cases were being reported from Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala, though they were increasing in all districts, he said.
Micro-containment zones were being increased in high incidence districts like Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar, he added.
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