'Testing, isolation, treatment, vaccination, and containment': Jammu and Kashmir govt adopts 5-pronged strategy to contain corona

The government is working on a 5-pronged strategy to contain the spread of coronavirus in J&K.

These remarks were made at a press conference called today at the auditorium of department of Information and Public Relations.

Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo; Principal Secretary Information & PDD, Rohit Kansal; Secretary DMRR&R, Simrandeep Singh and Mission Director NHM, Choudhary Yasin briefed the media during this press conference. Dulloo said that the situation is challenging but not out of control.

He said that J&K has made ample preparations to meet the challenge.

He gave out that the department is working on a 5-pronged strategy to restrict the spread of virus, an official statement said.

Elaborating, Dulloo said that intense testing including that of travellers and others suspects is being done at a rapid pace followed by containment process that includes contact tracing and several restrictions are in force.

He said that Isolation & Treatment of infected persons is part of this strategy besides following Covid appropriate behaviour strictly.

He expressed satisfaction that unlike previous year, this year there is one more weapon in their arsenal that is the covid vaccine.

Providing details Dulloo said that “we have 13,400 active cases with a good recovery rate of 89.6% and mortality rate of just 1.38%”.

He said that there are around 120 containment zones and effective mechanism of contact tracing in place.

He made out that some 1,64,000 contacts were traced this year with all the required restrictions applied to contain the spread of this disease.

Dulloo said that facilities available with the department are satisfactory with 3 state-of-the-art Cobas6800 testing machines to be installed in the premier health institutes of J&K shortly.

He gave out that there are some 600 covid dedicated ventilators around J&K with only 48 occupied currently.

He said that 6000 category-I covid beds are available with the hospitals including 10000 bulk oxygen cylinders and 3500 medium sized cylinders.

He said that the government is in a process of installing 36 oxygen generation plants with 23 to be made functional at the end of the week that will help in adding 2000 more oxygen beds to present strength.

Regarding the position of other logistics it was given that sufficient numbers of PPE kits, N-95 Masks, Viral Transport Mediums (VTMs) are available with the department and there is no dearth of the same.

He asked the media to play a vital role of assisting them in spreading the awareness to the people thereby helping in saving the lives.

He asked them to inform people about the advantages of observing the covid appropriate behaviour and going for vaccination whenever they are asked to do so.

When asked about the availability of the vaccine, he said that department is continuously receiving the tranches of vaccine as per their requirements.

He said that currently more than two lakh doses are available and the supply is going on satisfactorily. Dulloo said that all the necessary steps would be taken to ensure safety of each individual besides better treatment of the persons affected.

He said that more than 17 lakh doses have been inoculated till date with 91,142 (74.56%) health care workers, 2,61,589 (77.51%) front line workers and 11,27,511 (36.76%) 45 years plus citizens already administered their vaccine doses.

He said that as per the instructions of the Prime Minister, J&K has made preparations to launch universal adult vaccination drive from May 1.

Explaining further the measures taken by government it was said that during the previous day some 63,675 tests were performed at more than 1400 sites created for the purpose. He said that it includes 560 Health workers, 2760 frontline workers and 60355 (45 years plus) senior citizens. Principal Secretary Information & PDD, Rohit Kansal said that the “misconceptions” among the people are going away and people are coming forth for receiving the dose of vaccine.

He said that additional check posts have been created at Lakhanpur, Samba, Lower Munda en route National Highway to double check the testing done on incoming travellers besides at Railway Stations and airports.

He said that the rate of testing is one of the best in the country and other facilities created are also up to mark as per international requirements and standards.

The Secretary Disaster Management said that from today onwards orders have been issued to ensure occupancy of 50% capacity in all public transport vehicles.

He said that police has been instructed to keep a check on violators and impose fine wherever required. He said that other guidelines have also been issued in respect to holding of gatherings both indoor and outdoor besides for the opening of markets and other public places.

He stressed that SOPs should be followed in all places & in all situations without any excuse or laxity. The media persons asked about several details on the future strategy and preparations to which replies by the concerned officer was given instantly, the statement said.