Srinagar: With Srinagar district sharing nearly 60 percent of daily caseload of Covid-19 in J&K, doctors attribute the spike in cases to dense population, huge inter-district movement and big wedding functions in the district.
Srinagar having the highest population among all districts in Kashmir is also a commercial hub housing all main government offices, which leads to huge influx of people travelling from other parts of Kashmir to this district.
“It is a challenging situation as Srinagar is the commercial hub witnessing huge influx of people from other districts. Population wise Srinagar is also at top, then add to it non-adherence of Covid protocols leading to surge in Covid cases. This is the main reason that Srinagar is reporting higher number of cases. Also we
cannot compare the summer capital with other districts due to these factors,” said spokesperson of Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, Dr. Mir Mushtaq.
“People should avoid social gatherings as Covid has shown an upward trend in Srinagar. Another reason is the ongoing marriage season where there is no-adherence of Covid appropriate behavior,” he said, adding that “DHSK is working hard to complete vaccination and at the same time create awareness about the need to adhere to the Covid protocols.”
Head of department Community Medicines, SMHS, Dr Salim Khan said “non-adherence of Covid appropriate behavior, large gatherings at marriage functions, social gatherings have contributed to rise in cases in Srinagar. But as long as people are getting vaccinated there is no need to worry. Only thing that has to be kept in mind is the proper adherence of Covid SoPs.”
Senior Critical Care Expert, Dr. Showkat Shah said slackness of people towards adherence of Covid protocols is the main reason for rise in cases. “Srinagar is densely populated, there is congestion and people are not shying away from attending social gatherings. Government must act tough, even if it means booking people for violating rules. On paper, there is restriction on marriage gatherings, but on the ground hundreds attend such functions even without wearing a mask.”
“It will add up, last time during the second wave also the increase of Covid cases started from Srinagar and then other districts followed the trend. This time we have to be cautious, the government must act tough against violators.”
Srinagar has reported the highest number of Covid infection cases so far: 73635 positive cases with 795 Active Positive, 72002 have recovered and 838 have died.