<span style="color: #222222;">In Himachal Pradesh, Deputy Commissioners have been authorized to declare any institutions within their jurisdiction as COVID Care Centre in order to facilitate the COVID-19 patients in their respective districts. AIR correspondent reports that this decision has been taken in view of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the state.<br />''<br />''In view of the increasing number of  cases of COVID-19 Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has directed the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that the person entering the state must enter point of origin as well as a destination while applying for e-passes. He said e-passes must be given to only those individuals of the state who are on medical ground or in case of death. The Chief Minister said schools can also be taken as institutional quarantine if required. On the other hand, the State Government has decided to make a home quarantine mechanism more effective and constant vigil would be kept on individuals who are under home isolation. Meanwhile, the number of Coronavirus patients in the state has increased to 727. Of these, 429 patients have fully recovered. However, 279 active cases of COVID-19 are being treated at the different hospitals of the state.</span><br />