Monitor News Bureau
Govt to carry intensive survey of ‘hot spots’ and ‘red zones’ to cover all cases
Jammu: The Government on Saturday informed that so far 224 positive cases of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have been reported in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir with four unfortunate deaths and six recoveries as well.
The Government further informed that the main focus of the authorities has been the tracing of foreign travellers, participants of religious gatherings as well as contact persons of these and so far 98% cases of these have been traced which indicates that the administration is on right path in dealing with the emerging situation.
Furthermore the aggressive testing strategy, contact tracing and tracking of suspect cases has been very effective in J&K and it has gained high degree of success in it so far by which it is considered among the 4-5 highest testing regions of the country besides 78% asymptomatic cases have also been tracked which determines the aggressive testing strategy of the administration.
Notably, J&K has been among the first to start testing locally having expanded its testing labs from 1 to 5 labs with testing capacity of existing labs being expanded on daily basis which will support in aggressive testing strategy of the Government.
The Government also informed that 7729 persons are under home quarantine (including facilities operated by govt.); while as 28912 persons are under home surveillance till date.
To deal with the situation, the Government of UT of J&K put restrictions from 4 March onwards much earlier than most of other states/UTs.
The Government marked 77 Red Zones (12 in Jammu/ 65 in Kashmir) for containing the virus and tracking the suspects at the earliest. The government also established effective screening mechanism at Lakhanpur (only entry point to the UT from rest of India) and over 5000 have been quarantined in lots.
CAPACITY BUILDING IN HEALTHCARE
On the healthcare front, the administration has taken several steps to deal with the emerging situation arising due to COVID-19. So far the government has established 16 standalone/dedicated COVID hospitals in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir besides isolation beds (including ICU’s) have been increased for 1525 to 2596 with further process of addition going on.
The Government has also setup 1938 hospital care beds as well as 24,926 non-hospital quarantine beds. Furthermore the administration has approached railway authorities as well as Army for support in building dedicated COVID facilities at Jammu and Srinagar of 500 beds.
Stocks of safety equipment, ventilators, testing kits are being procured to enhance the capacity in order to deal with any untoward situation which may arise due to COVID-19.
Giving details about the innovations being employed, the government informed that to deal with the situation retired doctors are being employed and around 120 such doctors have joined till date.
De-contamination tunnels in 6 hospitals, government offices and other places like Lakhanpur/ Jawahar Tunnel have been established to sanitize the general public which reduces the chances of getting infected by the virus.
The government has also established sample collection booths at several places while as all frontline personnel are being provided with masks and necessary safety kits besides 1.2 crore people of J&K are being provided cotton reusable masks to ensure 100% usage of masks and these masks will be provided free of cost to the BPL families.
FUTURE STRATEGY
The government will carry intensive survey of hot spots and red zones to corner all the suspect cases besides the policy of identifying and isolating vulnerable areas in the shape of hot spots or red zones will be aggressively continued. These Red Zones will continue to observe a complete lockdown, enhanced testing and extra surveillance. Further Spatial-temporal mapping will also be launched to trace and track all the suspected cases.
In its fight against the COVID 19 pandemic, the Government has sought cooperation of all people and requested for strictly following advisories issued by the Government from time to time.
