Srinagar: The daily count of COVID-19 cases continued to see a rise as 505 fresh cases were reported in J&K on Thursday. Meanwhile the active cases also crossed the 2000 mark.
As per the official figures, out of 505 cases 277 cases were reported from Jammu division while 228 cases were reported from Kashmir division. With today’s tally, the number of COVID-19 cases in J&K so far reached 458456, 168998 in Jammu and 289458 in Kashmir.
The active COVID-19 cases rose to 2077, including 901 from Kashmir and 1176 from Jammu division. Also, the count of active cases in Srinagar district reached 671, the highest among all districts across Kashmir.
As per the official figures, around 1851 cases were reported during the last six days in J&K, prompting the administration in various districts to make wearing face masks mandatory in public places and gatherings.
As per the district wise breakup, Jammu district reported 200 cases followed by 144 cases from Srinagar while 38 cases were reported from Baramulla district.
Udhampur district reported 25 cases, Kupwara 23, Kathua 14, Kishtwar 11 and Poonch 8 cases.
Meanwhile, six cases each were reported from Samba and Budgam district while five cases each were reported from Doda, Rajouri and Bandipora districts.
Also, four cases were reported from Kulgam district while three cases each were reported from Reasi and Anantnag districts. Two cases each were reported from Pulwama and Ganderbal districts while one case was reported from Shopian district. However, no fresh cases were reported from Ramban district.
As per the official figures 152 patients, who were infected with the virus, recovered today. They included 97 from Jammu and 55 from Kashmir as well.
Amid the daily surge in cases, hospitals have started witnessing a rush of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
“Till the recent past, there was no rush of such patients to the hospital but now the situation has changed as many patients are coming to hospitals and are admitted as well,” said a medico.
Meanwhile, amid the surge in daily count of COVID-19 cases, the health authorities in Srinagar have taken up the matter with the Chief Education Officer (CEO) for vaccination of the children in the age group of 12-17 years.
The move has come in wake of the guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to mitigate the present COVID-19 situation.
“In view of the rise in COVID-19 cases in all over the J&K UT we have proposed a plan to administer the COVID-19 doses to the age group of 12-17 years,” reads an official communication issued by Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Srinagar.
The Deputy CMO said, “12 to 17 year age group are school going children so it is easy to catch them in the schools.”
“Our vaccination teams will visit the schools and administer the COVID-19 vaccination doses and Td doses. You are requested to direct your concerned schools to cooperate for the same,” the communique reads.
The CEO Srinagar has forwarded the communication to all the higher secondary principals, Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs), Headmasters to cooperate with the teams from CMO Srinagar.
Despite J&K seeing a massive uptick in COVID-19 cases in the past several days, adherence to SOPs has taken a huge hit as people are rarely seen adhering to COVID-19 SoPs thus contributing to the fresh concerns surrounding the pandemic.
Despite the advisories and orders issued by administration urging people to adhere to COVID-19 SoPs, people are still seen violating the protocols in public places and at social gatherings.
Rarely are people seen wearing face masks, washing hands or using hand sanitisers to avoid the spread of the virus which has witnessed a surge in the last few weeks.
“There is no implementation of government directive to wear face masks at public places, passenger buses, school vans and offices," said a medico expressing concern over carelessness shown by people in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“People are taking it lightly as they hardly wear a face mask or maintain social distance at public places or at social gatherings. There is a need to follow all COVID-19 SoPs,” a renowned critical care expert Dr Showkat Ahmad Shah told Greater Kashmir.
He said taking SoPs lightly would add to the number of positive cases. “So it is better to take precautions instead of taking it lightly,” he said.
