Corona Curfew extended till May 24

The Corona Curfew imposed in all 20 Districts of J&K till 7 am on Monday, 17th May, has been extended further till 7 am on Monday, 24th May. The curfew will be strict except for a few essential services. Other restrictions and SOPs for weddings etc. outlined by the administration earlier will remain in force.

The decision was taken as a part of the Covid Containment measures after a detailed assessment of the present Covid scenario in the UT done by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and members of Covid Task Force during a series of meetings with Deputy Commissioners, SSPs and other officers.

Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor; 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; Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Government Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj; Dheeraj Gupta, Principal Secretary H&UDD; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; Mukesh Singh, ADGP; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Sheetal Nanda, Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Dr. Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Deputy Commissioners and SSPs, attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode.

During the meetings, the Lt Governor sought district-wise feedback on important aspects of Covid management system pertaining to testing, impact of corona curfew, hospital referral system, functionality of oxygen generation plants, availability of Covid dedicated beds, daily trend of Covid cases, recovery rate, etc.

The meetings also discussed the way forward for tackling the spread of the corona virus more effectively.

Stressing on bringing uniformity in the patient care system across J&K, the Lt Governor called for coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders to contain the spread of the deadly virus. “Work as a unit to achieve favourable results. Together we can overcome the challenges,” the Lt Governor told the officers.

While taking district-wise status of the impact of restrictions on level of transmission, the Lt Governor noted that the restrictions have shown positive results.

Emphasizing on intensifying vaccination drive, the Lt Governor set the timeline of 10-days for achieving the target of 100% vaccination of the above 45 years age group with the first dose of Covid vaccine.

Laying special emphasis on full utilization of new Medical Colleges, the Lt Governor asked the concerned officers to ensure that people living in adjoining areas of Medical colleges must go to these health institutions for treatment.

Operationalization of ventilators by the trained manpower in Medical colleges should be ensured, besides the capacity of Covid dedicated beds must be increased gradually, maintained the Lt Governor.

“Take comprehensive measures to ensure testing, active case detection and contact tracing, and early hospitalization wherever required for saving precious lives. Saving the life of every citizen of Jammu & Kashmir is our top priority. All the resources and funds are being made available to tackle Covid pandemic. Everyone needs to work unitedly to save lives,” the Lt Governor asked the officers.

On utilization of Covid Care Centres, the Lt Governor asked the concerned officers to reach out to the patients in home isolation, besides rural population where home isolation is not feasible, and encourage the patients to shift to these facilities. “Ensure the availability of all the required facilities in these Covid Care Centres for better care of patients,” added the Lt Governor.

Taking note of the rise in positive cases in rural areas, the Lt Governor directed the health department to intensify testing in rural areas and other urban localities with high positivity rate.

Terming ASHA and Anganwadi workers as the frontline warriors in rural areas, the Lt Governor laid emphasis on strengthening surveillance by Home to Home teams for identifying suspected cases.

While taking district-wise stock of distribution of Covid kits, the Lt Governor passed specific directions for speeding up the process, besides distribution of Covid kits among the people with Covid symptoms after recommendation of doctors.

On Tele-medicine facilities, the Lt Governor directed the health department to ensure that facility is in place and is functional in every district.

After detailed deliberations and inputs from various concerned officers, the meeting decided to open Mughal Road to facilitate the movement of trucks carrying fruits, and seasonal migration of Gujjar-Bakerwal community.

The Lt Governor asked the Health Department to constitute a committee of top health experts which shall submit its report in a time bound manner suggesting measures to deal with future health emergencies and third wave of corona virus.

On issuance of passes during the restrictions, the Lt Governor instructed the Divisional Commissioners to ensure that passes facilities are available in every district to facilitate the movement of people. Deputy Commissioners are empowered to issue curfew movement passes, he added.

Speaking on oxygen availability in J&K, the Lt Governor observed that the capacity and availability of medical oxygen in the UT has been increased significantly. In coming days, more oxygen generation plants are coming up in J&K which will further add to the present capacity, he added.

The government is aiming to achieve the desired goal of having oxygen generation plants in all Government Medical Colleges soon, the Lt Governor maintained.

Clear-cut assessment of additional requirements for installation of new oxygen plants must be done to ensure the functioning of these plants soon after their installation, observed the Lt Governor.

Senior officers must show decent behaviour while ensuring strict enforcement of restrictions. Punitive action must be taken against those indulging in hoarding of medicines and their black-marketing, maintained the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor reiterated the directions issued for completion of the payments under MGNREGA, on priority basis, besides ensuring continuous extension of benefits of various beneficiary oriented schemes.

The Lt Governor also appreciated all the concerned officers, frontline health workers for putting up determined efforts in the fight against Covid pandemic.c