‘2000 contacts of positive cases identified, 975 traced and tested’

Principal Secretary Planning and Government Spokesperson Rohit Kansal today informed that nearly 2000 contacts of COVID19 positive cases have been identified of which 975 have been traced and tested.

He said that with the addition of 5 new cases today thenumber of positive cases have risen to 75 in J&K. Giving breakup of thefigures at a press briefing, Kansal said out of 75 cases, 70 are active cases(54 in Kashmir Division and 16 in Jammu division) and a total of 22,993 casesare under surveillance so far.

   

He said that out of 75 positive cases, 3 (2 from JammuDivision and 1 from Kashmir Division) have recovered and there is everylikelihood that one more case will recover very soon.

Kansal revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has been testingaggressively and so far 1218 tests have been conducted which is 6.5% of totalunder surveillance.

He reassured that all the identified contacts will be tracedand tested for Covid19. He said, “We plan to test every single one of the 2000contacts that we have identified.”

Kansal said that in all 34 hotspots/red zones have beenidentified in J&K of which 24 are in Kashmir Division and 10 in JammuDivision. These include 7 in Pulwama, 4 in Bandipora, 4 in Budgam, 5 in Srinagar,2 in Shopian, 1 each in Ganderbal and Baramulla in Kashmir Division; 4 in Jammudistrict, 5 in Rajouri and 1 in Udhampur district of Jammu Division.

Kansal informed that steps have been initiated to enhanceand upgrade the health infrastructure in UT and said that 68 new medicalprofessional including doctors/specialists/paramedics/medical officers/nurseshave joined their respective duties. The UT Government is also procuring masks,PPEs and ventilators to augment the existing health infrastructure and everypossible effort is being made to ensure that there is no shortage of manpowerin the health sector.

He assured that adequate arrangements have been made toensure sufficient supply of essential commodities. The NH 44 Highway has beenreopened and made functional and nearly 800 trucks and tankers have crossedJawahar Tunnel carrying essential goods to the Valley. He informed that supplyof fruits and vegetables and POL has also reached the Valley. The downwardmovement of material from the Valley such as apples from cold stores has alsostarted.

He informed that since the beginning of lockdown upto 8 AMin the morning, 5037 trucks carrying essential goods containing foodgrains(1579), LPG (384), POL tankers (123), fruits and vegetables (1530), medicinesand health supply (180), milk (180), cattle feed /fodder 372 have enteredJ&K from Lakhanpur. In order to augment the supply lines, he said that 248local industrial units have been made operational. These include unitsmanufacturing animal feed, pharmaceutical products, surgical bandage, masks,hospital gowns besides eatables like flour, rice and edible oil.

Government Spokesperson said that in his previous briefinghe had already informed about 24×7 dedicated Helplines set up by the ResidentCommissioner’s Office in New Delhi and the Labour  Department to assist the migrant labourersand other citizens. He said that 27,000 residents of J&K stranded indifferent parts are being reached out and provided support through theseHelplines. So far over 150 calls have been received on these Helplines andabout 30,000 interstate migrant labourers within J&K are being taken careof in every possible way.

Deputy Commissioners in all the districts have also set upindividual Control Rooms to provide assistance to these stranded migrantlabourers.

Kansal said that the Government is aware of the hardshipsbeing faced by the old and vulnerable sections of the society due to theongoing lockdown. The Social Welfare Department is reaching out to nearly 30lakh people including pensioners, residents of Bal Grehs, old age homes,Juvenile Homes and nearly 30,000 children belonging to the disadvantagedsection of the society.

Kansal informed that the JMC has already started preparingdisinfectant tunnels. To begin with he said that they will be installed in theHospitals and later the facility will be extended to other public places andbuildings.

He thanked the public for the cooperation extended to theGovernment machinery in implementing the lockdown and informed that the COVID19 Awareness and Monitoring Committees shall be set up at Panchayat and Blocklevels and services of the elected representatives, PRIs, religious leaders,ULBs will be actively sought for imparting awareness.

Deliberating on the Advisory issued by the PrincipalScientific Advisor regarding the importance of masks in containing the spreadof Covid 19, Kansal said that J&K Government has decided to educate thepublic about the usage of masks. He said that different categories requiredifferent kinds of masks. Health Workers and Frontline Professionals includingpeople dealing with essential services require specialised masks while othersmay not require such specialised masks.

Kansal said that AYUSH Ministry has also issued advisoryregarding use of immunity boosters to fight Covid 19 effectively. He said thatGovernment will ensure that all these immunity boosting products are madeavailable to the people.

Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar, Director Information and PublicRelations, and Bhupinder Kumar, Director NHM were present during the PressBriefing.

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