Employees without COVID negative report not to be allowed into offices: J&K Govt

Srinagar:  Jammu and Kashmir government has decided not to allow those employees into offices, who do not possess COVID-19 negative certificate.

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, Jammu and Kashmir government has started mandatory testing of all the service providers, businessmen, government employees, and bankers.

Official figures reveal that Kashmir has 5,704 active cases till September 1. Of which the highest number of 1,511 cases are from Srinagar district.

“The heads of the offices should ensure that no entry is given to any official without a negative test certificate. Further, each certificate shall be duly attested by office heads based on the reporting of the team. It shall be valid for a period of 15 days,” read an order issued by Srinagar district administration.

The government said to ramp up the rapid antigen testing (RAT), it has been decided to conduct sampling of all vulnerable clusters like service providers, business establishments, government employees, banks, etc under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer and a team of doctors and technicians

“All employees should be present on the date of testing and shall be tested irrespective of their testing history.  A report in this regard should be sent by this office on the next day without fail,” the order said.

Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal  Choudhary said clusters of cases have emerged in many government offices and banks recently. “It is important to ensure COVID SOPs at workplaces. We are going for testing and sensitization at all workplaces be it government or private. Testing is also being done in markets, industry, etc,” he said.