No lockdown for now: Div Com Kashmir
Asks people to maintain proper Covid behavior
Srinagar: Divisional Commissioner Kashmir P K Pole Tuesday said that people are resorting to callousness which needs to be plugged sooner the better and that there are no plans to impose any sort of lockdown in the valley as the administration is following the slogan of “Jaan bhi, Jahaan bhi.”
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir said that last year, lockdown was imposed to save lives as not much knowledge and information about the virus and its behavior was available.
“With the passage of time, unlock was initiated and measures were taken to prevent the spread of virus. Last year, there was no tourism and the economy suffered a lot. As the time passed, we evolved a country-wide Covid protocol that entails preventive measures like wearing of masks, using sanitzers, and maintaining distance,” Pole said.
He said that at present there are 7300 positive cases while Kashmir has recorded 1300 deaths so far. “The percentage of deaths is 1.47,” he said.
In total, there were 90,000 Covid positive cases of which 80,000 recovered so far. He said that 28 lakh people were tested of which 20 lakh were done through Rapid Antigen Testing, and remaining through RTCPR.”
He said that there is a mutant virus about which “we don’t have much knowledge.”
“At present we are following Covid-protocol. There is a callousness among people which needs to be plugged,” the Divisional Commissioner said.
He said that there were no plans of imposing any sort of lock down as administration is following the slogan of “Jaan Bhi aur Jahan Bhi.”
He said that there are 1500 beds available of which total occupancy is 30 percent only. “37 percent hospitals in Kashmir are having adequate oxygen facility,” Pole said, adding that the situation is not alarming in the Valley.
To a query about whether administration has any plans for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra slated to begin from June 28, the Divisional Commissioner said that there is a plan but the same is tentative as the situation is evolving so are the measures.
“While preparations are on for the smooth conduct of Yatra, we have identified 30,000 local service provides for Yatra, who will be vaccinated,” he said.
Pole appealed people to maintain proper Covid behaviour to prevent the spread of virus.
The Div Com was accompanied by DC Srinagar, Director SKIMS Soura, Director Health Services Kashmir, Principal GMC Srinagar, JD Information & PR and Incharge Covid Control Room Kashmir.
At the outset, Div Com said that there was sufficient bed capacity available at hospitals and oxygen facilities as a number of new oxygen generation plants have been installed at various health facilities to meet any sort of emergency situation.
He said though the government has taken various measures to contain the spread of virus however, as a shared responsibility it has become very imperative to follow the SOPs in letter and spirit by one and all.
He said people should avoid going to public places and busy markets unless extremely necessary. Besides, ensure wearing face mask and maintaining a social distance, hand hygiene, isolation in case of coming in contact with positive person,
The Div Com emhasised that people should come forward for covid vaccination as this is the best way to safeguard ourselves and our nears and dears from Covid-19.
While sharing the details, Div Com said a slew of measures have been taken including rigorous testing.
He said a total of 2810339 Covid-19 tests have been performed till date which include 2082568 RAT and 727771 RT-PCR Tests. More than 7.5 lakh people have received Covid Vaccination in Kashmir which include Health Care Workers, Front-line Workers and people aged more than 45 years.
To deal with Covid-19 Pandemic, the divisional administration followed a multi-pronged approach, which involved a multi disciplinary coordination and activities. These include adopting/implementing preventive measures, containing the spread of covid-19 infection through Red/Containment Zone strategy, Robust Contact Tracing, IEC activities aimed at behavioural changes, enhancing the testing capacities, designating the Covid Hospitals and Health Centers and increasing the availability of Beds, High-flow Oxygen supply and other necessary logistics for Covid patients.
Besides, establishing Flu clinics in different hospitals of Kashmir not only helped in picking up the symptomatic cases of Covid-19 but also prevented the other patients visiting these hospitals from contracting the Covid-19 infection.
The divisional administration established a Divisional Covid Control Room, at the start of this Pandemic, in the month of March 2020 under the supervision of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, which played the pivotal role of coordinating all the Covid-19 Mitigation activities in addition to a robust mechanism of surveillance & data analysis.
He said that anyone entering Kashmir from outside UT either by road, rail or air has been subjected to mandatory covid-19 testing and allowed to move out freely only after a negative test report. Till date at Srinagar airport more than five lakh inbound passengers have been tested for Covid-19.
He said some out of the box interventions were also carried out in the Covid-19 Mitigation activities which include health education of religious preachers & scholars, TV programs by Public Health Experts, testing of high risk groups like pregnant ladies, service providers and people involved in tourism, surveillance of positive cases on home isolation through mobile tracing, creation of whatsapp groups for monitoring the health of Home Isolated covid positive cases and many more.
A Round the Clock helpline was also established in March last year within the Covid Control Room to address the grievances and questions of the general public regarding Covid.
At the outset, DC Srinagar impressed upon that all new covid related directions inducing 50 percent closure of commercials and implementation of using 50 percent seat capacity in public transport shall be implemented in letter and spirit.
He said that people should follow protocol and cooperate on new directions taken as measures to fight the virus not as a punishment to the public.
Director SKIMS and Director Health Services Kashmir also briefed the media about the importance of maintaining proper Covid behaviour and vaccination as important to come out of the pandemic situation.
KV News
