Srinagar: Five of the COVID-19-affected patients admitted in CD hospital have tested negative and will be discharged after completing quarantine, officials said on Saturday.
“More good news….. 5 of positive patients turned negative … another sample to be taken..as quarantine period will be over ..will be discharged … together v can do it.. break the chain,” Dr Naveed Nazir Shah, HOD CD hospital said in a tweet.
Shah, who is a leading chest disease specialist and in-charge of COVID-19 pandemic at the CD hospital, urged people to take all the necessary precautions. He urged people to follow administrative and health Advisories in letter and spirit.
He also appealed people to reveal their travel history and thus ensure safety of all. “People should come clean on their travel history,” he said. “Early detection helps us to put the person in isolation facilities and thus there won’t be exponential spread of the virus,” he said in a statement.
He said that people have an essential role to play in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. He said that small changes in personal behavior can buy time—slowing the outbreak, preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and reducing cases until scientists develop treatments. In his practical advice, Dr Naveed urged public to protect themselves and their community from the deadly virus.
On hospital supplies, he said that there were sufficient supplies available with the hospital. Meanwhile he also lauded the role of NGOs—who are coming forward to help the administration, especially health sector workers amid COVID-19 crisis.
“Some of the NGOs are doing remarkable job by working closely and helping out the needy in such crisis.”
Shah lauded the role of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for installing and operationalizing its first decontamination and sanitation tunnel at the hospital. He said that it would contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
The decontamination and sanitization tunnel, manufactured and commissioned by the SMC, was installed at the entry of the Chest Diseases Hospital, a designated COVID-19 hospital here yesterday.
Reveal Travel History
the Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared the coronavirus infection an epidemic and said any person who refuses to follow orders on prevention or treatment of the disease would be dealt under the law.
Earlier, while announcing the regulations under the Jammu and Kashmir Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020, issued by the Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department, Atal Dulloo in a four-page notification said that such people would be dealt strictly.
It may be recalled here that the Jammu and Kashmir administration constituted various coordination teams to ensure movement of essential goods and services, and address difficulties amid the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo will be the in-charge of the coordination. The Commissioner Secretary Labour and Employment shall coordinate labour issues, including problems of daily-wage labourers of Jammu and Kashmir currently under lockdown in other parts of the country. The Secretary, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction would look after coordination of essential supplies and logistic chains.
Completing administrative quarantine
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has kept robust facilities available for hundreds of persons—who are kept under administrative quarantine. So far hundreds of persons have been discharged after completing two-week quarantine period in Srinagar.
These hundreds of persons belonging to different districts of Kashmir were entrusted to their respective district headquarters in SRTC buses, which the Srinagar administration had arranged for them. Srinagar residents in the group were all ferried home or entrusted to their families.
The group was under thorough medical supervision throughout their quarantine period and was discharged after clearance from the doctors.
It is notable that there were around 1900 persons who have been put under administrative quarantine in Srinagar after their return mostly from overseas countries.
Shifting of overseas-return persons into quarantine facilities was part of Srinagar administration’s elaborate preventive measures put in place to contain spread of the COVID-19 disease after March 18 when the first positive case was reported in the district.
