Jammu and Kashmir: Corona curfew extended till May 6 in 4 districts

The decision was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in which he passed specific directions for effectively controlling the spread of the Corona virus in the UT and providing best care to the patients. 

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh, DGP; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; AG Mir & Mukesh Singh – ADGsP; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Dr. Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Choudhary Mohammad Yasin, Mission Director, NHM; HoDs and other senior officers participated in the meeting, in person, and through virtual mode. 

The Lt Governor is closely monitoring the Covid scenario in J&K and is taking regular review meetings with the concerned departments in order to assess the situation across the UT. 

After analyzing the district-wise situation, the meeting decided to extend Corona Curfew for three more days in the above mentioned four districts.

 A re-assessment of the situation will be taken before 6th May for laying down further action plan. Instructions were issued to the concerned officers for continuing micro-containment zoning as per requirement. 

The Corona curfew at night shall continue in all Municipal / Urban Local Body limits of all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including the above four districts. Night curfew will be in force from 8 pm to 7 am.

 Other restrictions when curfew is not there will continue as before.Emphasizing on optimal availability of oxygen supply, the Lt Governor directed for conducting Oxygen Audit in every hospital of the UT.

He also directed the Health department to lay special focus on the judicious usage of oxygen.

The Lt Governor further directed for increasing beds with oxygen cylinders, besides effective operationalization of 108 Ambulance service to cater to the needs of the patients. 

During the meeting, the Lt Governor sought feedback from concerned Administrative Heads, Divisional Commissioners, Health and Police Departments regarding the evolving situation and also invited their suggestions for strengthening the pandemic control system component against the spread of Covid-19. 

Underlining the importance of maintaining synergy between the departments for speedy decision on planning, coordination, and logistics, the Lt Governor constituted a five-member Crisis Management Group, comprising of Chief Secretary; Financial Commissioners – Finance, and Health & Medical Education; Home Secretary and Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department. 

On vaccination, the Lt Governor asked the concerned officers to ensure that vaccination drive is not hampered during the lockdown period, and advised them to take comprehensive measures, besides reaching out to targeted age groups through mobile vaccination. 

The meeting also decided to have separate locations for different age groups for vaccination.The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to make correct projection of requirements, besides effectively streamlining the supply and demand so that there would be apt availability of the necessary resources. 

The Lt Governor further asked the concerned officers to coordinate with Army authorities for augmenting their existing health capacities.

At the outset, Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education gave a detailed overview of district-wise Covid situation in J&K, including medical infrastructure, bed occupancy, daily trend, testing and vaccination rate, testing capacities, oxygen availability, etc.

He also informed the meeting that the DRDO team has arrived in the UT to set up 500-bedded Covid facility, one each in Srinagar and Jammu. 

It was informed that 1,50,000 doses of vaccination for the people falling between the age of 18-45 years were procured and vaccination drive for the said age group has been started today. 

During the meeting, various valuable suggestions were made by the participants for effective Covid management pertaining to regulating logistic supply, monitoring the oxygen availability, infrastructure, and utilization of trained human resource, adopting an effective approach for rural and urban areas, increasing Jan Bhagidari in Covid control measures, developing comprehensive Preventive and Treatment plans, etc.