With ‘COVID lockdown’ in J&K entering its 10th day today and fresh cases continue to rise, the J&K government has said that it takes at least two weeks ‘for the effects of restrictions to reflect in the case tally’.
Lockdown initially imposed in 11 districts of J&K on 29 April for four days was later extended in both duration and expanse to cover all the 20 districts.
Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Atal Dulloo said that lockdown could have already slowed down the rise of cases in J&K. He said that when the lockdown was imposed on the tail end of April, the cases were rising steeply. “The cases are still rising but the numbers that could have been there in one week, may now span over two weeks,” he said.
This “slow down” in growth, he said, was expected of the lockdown and it gave the authorities time to ramp up the facilities. “In the past one week, we have been able to start many oxygen plants, devise and put in place a strategy for optimum use of hospital beds.”
However, many experts believe that in addition to the lockdown, other measures were required simultaneously to help the overall situation in J&K.
Prof Parvaiz Koul, influenza expert and ex head of Internal and Pulmonary Medicine at SKIMS Soura said that an aggressive vaccination to protect the vulnerable section was need of the hour. “What after the lockdown? If we have been unable to protect those who could die of the viral infection, then we are back to where we started,” he said.
He said lockdown was useful in breaking the chain of infections and its effect, if enforced properly, will show in two weeks. “With lockdown appropriate behaviour in place, we should be able to see our cases slowing down in two weeks from the date of imposition,” he said.
However, in many districts of Kashmir division, vaccination has slowed down due to shortage of supplies. Prof Koul said the importance of vaccination in high density and caseload areas was more crucial and the shortage at this juncture was a concern.
“Lockdown doesn’t produce results in solo. It needs to be augmented by aggressive vaccination, aggressive testing including that of incoming travelers and robust sequencing to be abreast about what virus we are dealing with,” he said.
As per official figures, nearly 5500 cases were reported in J&K on Saturday, a jump of over 2000 cases in the past 10 days of lockdown. The cases had jumped from around 1500 to around 3500 in 10 days prior to that.
Vaccination in Srinagar district, the highest contributing district has suffered a setback in the past fortnight, vaccine centers running dry on many days. Financial Commissioner Dulloo said vaccination would “pick up” as a fresh consignment of vaccines was expected in J&K.