Jammu, June 24: The Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam while taking stock of efforts toward mitigating COVID-19 threat, directed Deputy Commissioners to adopt liberal release policy at administrative quarantine centres. He added that if the quarantined persons test negative, as per existing Standard Operating Procedure, they can be sent to ‘home quarantine’ immediately. The Chief Secretary urged Deputy Commissioners to notify cemetery/ cremation grounds exclusively for COVID victims so as to prevent any untoward incidence regarding their last rituals. The Chief Secretary directed Divisional Commissioners, Jammu and Kashmir to undertake quality audits of administrative quarantine centres in respective provinces and suggest measures for improvement. Regarding exit policy for de-notification of red/ containment zones, Chief Secretary instructed for allowing partial de-notification, if no new case is reported for 21 continuous days under existing protocol. “This will be followed by intensive/ sentinel testing and if still no case is reported, then the zone will be de-notified after 30 days”, he added. To capture samples of increased number of travellers in coming days, Chief Secretary asked the concerned District Commissioners to enhance sampling capacities at all entry points including two airports and four railway stations. MD, NHM was directed to simultaneously enhance testing capacity. Administrative Secretaries of departments of Health & Medical Education, Information, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, and Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) participated in the meeting. Divisional Commissioners of Jammu, Kashmir and all Deputy Commissioners attended the meeting through video conference.
