Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu chaired a meeting of senior officers and asked them to ensure strict enforcement of restrictions in red zones.
According to officials, the LG also directed aggressive testing, following quarantine and isolation protocol in letter and spit to check the spread of COVID-19.
“He also directed testing of inmates of old age homes and up-gradation of health infrastructure besides contact tracing and maintenance of supply chain of essential commodities etc.”
The meeting comes a day after Lieutenant Governor briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the efforts of his administration for management and containment of COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Prime Minister was interacting with Chief Ministers and heads of all States/UTs through video conferencing to review the efforts of the States/UTs to combat COVID-19.
The LG provided feedback to him about the COVID positive cases in J&K and steps taken by the administration to maintain social distancing, ramp up healthcare infrastructure, mitigate difficulties of migrants and maintain the supply of essentials.
The Lt Governor informed the PM that there are 4 deaths and 224 positive cases in the UT, with 98% of the cases having travel history or contacts of the positive patients. In J&K, 5 districts are affected with coronavirus and 77 areas have been declared as Red Zones, he maintained.
He further informed that 16 dedicated COVID Hospitals with 208 ventilators, besides 2500 isolation beds, 25000 nonhospital beds are available and 400 more ventilators are being procured. Further, about 5500 people are under home quarantine and 30,000 laborers are living in camps. Around 18,000 health care professionals; 30,000 police personnel and others have been trained, who are working towards the containment of the spread of coronavirus, he added.
The Lt Governor apprised the PM that the UT Administration has rolled out an effective mechanism and strenuous efforts are underway to reach out to the beneficiaries under various welfare schemes including 7 lakh farmers covered under PM KISSAN; 8 lakh account holders under PMJDY; 12.5 lakh families getting LPG, 7 lakh families being provided with ration and other benefits. Dedicated call centres have been established to assist the stranded labourers and students from and outside the UT, he added.
During the interaction, the Prime Minister observed that next 3-4 weeks are critical to determine impact of steps taken till now to curb spread of the virus and suggested specific measures for agriculture and allied sector. He also spoke about popularizing the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app to ensure downloads in greater numbers. Aarogya Setu app is an essential tool in our fight against COVID-19, which can subsequently act as e-pass to facilitate travel etc, he added.
The Prime Minister categorically assured that India has adequate supplies of essential medicines and said that measures are being taken to ensure availability of protective gears and critical equipments for all front-line warriors. He underlined that the motto of the government earlier was ‘jaan hai to jahaan hai’ but now it is ‘jaan bhi, jahaan bhi’. He talked about strengthening the healthcare infrastructure and reaching out to patients through tele-medicine and also suggested that direct marketing for farm produce can be incentivised to prevent crowding in mandis. He observed that the combined efforts of the Centre and the States/UTs have definitely helped reduce the impact of COVID-19.
