Gurugram Administration offers to set up Special Covid-19 camps for Expatriates
GURUGRAM: In a much-required relief to the expatriate community living in Gurugram, the district administration has offered to set up special Covid-19 vaccination and testing camps in the pockets or localities where the concentration of such foreign communities is high in the city.
These special camps will facilitate the expatriates and their families especially from Japan and South Korea who are in the good number in Gurugram to take Covid-19 vaccination and tests to avoid them mixing with the large crowds, standing in long queues, or depending upon the private sector hospitals.
Dr. Yash Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram who also happens to be the Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) told Asian Community News (ACN) on Monday that if the representative organizations of these expatriate communities so desired and approached his office, the arrangement for setting up special camps in or around their localities could be made.
Dr. Garg who himself is a qualified doctor with MBBS degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, apart from being an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of 2009 batch, told ACN, “So far, none of the representatives of individual expatriates ever approached him or his office requesting for special Covid-19 testing and vaccination camps. We could have made special arrangements for them had they requested us earlier.”
Dr. Garg who assumed his charge of Gurugram Deputy Commissioner (District Magistrate) in January 2021, had also worked as a junior resident doctor at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi before taking a plunge into the bureaucratic sphere.
It is well known a fact that Gurugram is home to a sizable number of expatriate communities especially from Japan and South Korea as the city has about 5000 people living and working here from respective countries. They largely live in hi-rise gated communities and condominiums on Golf Course Road in Bellaire, Pinnacle, Park Place, Veranda, Suncity, Icon, etc.
However, the going was very tough for these expatriates during previous Covid-19 waves, especially during the second one last year when the countries had witnessed its worst-ever crumbling of health support infrastructure and reported a huge number of deaths including that of expatriates from Japan and South Korea.
South Korea had lost six nationals while two Japanese had succumbed to Covid-19 disease the last year during the second wave.
The expatriate community was left to the mercy of the private sector healthcare facilities including hospitals as the government struggled to tackle the situation which was deteriorating due to rapidly rising Covid-19 cases.
COVID-19 situation in Grurugram on Monday, January 10, 2022
Positivity rate: 22%
2621 new Corona positive cases. No new case of variant Omicron detected on Monday
Total Number of Tests done in 24 hours (RT-PCR + Rapid Antigen): 11865
New Cases (New Omicron cases 00): 2621
Total active COVID-19 cases (Including Omicron Active cases: 01): 10160
Total Omicron cases detected so far: 57
Covid-19 CASE HISTORY:
January 1: 298 January 6: 1447
January 2: 358 January 7: 1879
January 3: 460 January 8: 1450
January 4: 634 January 9: 2338
January 5: 1178 January 10: 2621
* Civil Surgeon, Health Department, Gurugram
