Over three weeks after lockdown was imposed in Kashmir, the total case tally here has seen a slight dip. Even though the fresh cases have a substantial drop in Srinagar, the simultaneous rise in new cases across other districts is sustaining the spike.
On April 30, the first day of lockdown in Kashmir, 932 fresh cases were reported from Srinagar district. At that point, the central district had 8346 active cases. Srinagar continued to have a high number of fresh cases for the weeks that followed. On 08 May, 853 cases were reported from Srinagar, a slight decrease. A week later, cases dropped drastically to half of that due to slump in testing around Eid-ul-Fitr. On 16 May, 831 cases were reported again. On 21 May, exactly three weeks after the lockdown, 598 cases were reported from Srinagar district – nearly 40 percent drop than the fresh cases before lockdown.
However, the overall cases from Kashmir division have not seen much of a decrease. On 03 May, 2360 cases were reported from Kashmir division, on 08 May 3259 cases were reported, 16 May – 2461 and on 21 May 2406 fresh cases came to fore.
Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo, expressed concern over the rise of cases fuelled by the cases in districts other than Srinagar. “We have a rural spread,” he said. He said in districts like Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Pulwama and some more, cases had doubled in these districts. He said steps were being taken to contain the spread in these districts. These steps, he said, include testing at sub-centre level, a medical officer will be made incharge at the micro-level for better implementation of SOPs. ASHA, ANM, MHW and Anganwadi workers will be involved in surveillance, he said. He said Panchayats will be allocated funds for making five bedded Covid Care Centres for people who cannot isolate at home.
The FC said referrals were also being scrutinized and steps were being taken to make these safe. “We have been having regular discussions with all stakeholders to create a better referral and bed allocation across districts and at all levels of hospitalization,” he said adding that the bed allocation would be “Strictly need based”.
The testing in Kashmir division, as per official figures, has remained between 40,000 and 47,000. A dip in testing was witnessed around Eid time, according to the official bulletin on COVID19.