Jammu and Kashmir Covid cases drop sharply in last two weeks

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<strong>With a successful lockdown, better treatment and hospital management coupled with an extensive vaccination drive, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a remarkable improvement in fighting the corona virus pandemic in the last two weeks. This was revealed at a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of the Union Territories presided over by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Tuesday.</strong></p>
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“The early detection of infection has allowed for timely medical intervention, whereas vaccination was found to reduce the severity of disease in patients – both strategies have been successful in restricting Covid-related fatalities in the UT”, J&K Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam asserted.</p>
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Currently, Jammu and Kashmir is among the leading regions in the country in vaccination of the 45-plus age group. As against the national average of 32% in this particular category, J&K has inoculated 66% of its eligible population. Four particular districts—Ganderbal, Shopian, Jammu and Samba—have achieved 100% target in this age group.</p>
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Subrahmanyam pressed the need of sustained supply of vaccines to cover maximum of the target population in the 18-45 age group. He said that in the last fortnight, daily average fresh cases had come down from an all-time high of 5,500 to 2,200. Similarly, the positivity rate had reduced from 13% to 6.2% in the same fortnight. It was underscored in the meeting that the districts having higher vaccination rates had reported lower  positivity rates, thus establishing a correlation between the vaccination and success of the containment measures.</p>
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It was pointed out that in J&K more fresh infection cases were pouring in from the rural areas than those of the urban localities. While 60% of the fresh cases were now being reported from the rural areas in Kashmir, same areas in Jammu were reporting 55% of the total cases.</p>
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Regarding augmentation of medical infrastructure and facilities in J&K, it was informed that the Government had recently adopted a strategy to establish 5-bedded Covid-care facilities with at least one oxygen-supported bed at each of the approximately 4,000 Panchayats to provide immediate medical care to the patients who could then be referred to higher-level facilities in case of emergency. Additionally, 33000 Covid-care medical kits have been distributed for usage by patients in home isolation.</p>
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Home Secretary Bhalla cautioned the UTs on the successive surge and asked them to remain vigilant over the situation. Advising the UTs to learn from their experiences, Bhalla asked them to keep pace with testing and vaccination rates, besides enforcing Covid-appropriate behaviour and strengthening the medical infrastructure.</p>
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Union Health Secretary gave a presentation on prevailing situation in different UTs. It was mentioned that J&K was performing reasonably well in mitigating the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic with 3,946 cases per million population being reported over the last two weeks and 62 deaths per million during the same period.</p>
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It was announced that the work was underway on both the 500-bed Covid hospitals being established by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in J&K. While the one at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu had been completed in less than 30 days and it would be made operational from Wednesday, 26 May, another pre-fabricated 500-bed Covid hospital would become functional at Khonmoh on Srinagar outskirts on Tuesday, 1 July. Chief Secretary asked for two dedicated oxygen tankers for continuous gas supply to the two DRDO hospitals.</p>
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The two DRDO hospitals would function under the overall administrative control of the Principals of Government Medical College Srinagar and Government Medical College Jammu who had already started the process for adhoc recruitment of medical and paramedical staff. A section of the staff would be provided on deputation from Directorates of Health Services Kashmir and Jammu. While one 200-bed pre-engineered Covid hospital has been advertised for tenders in Pulwama, Chief Secretary requisitioned two more 250-bed DRDO-designed hospitals in view of the exponential increase lately witnessed in some rural areas.</p>
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Home Secretary Bhalla appreciated the efforts of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in mitigating the spread of Covid-19 infections, especially the roll out of the targeted vaccination drives. He assured full support and coordination with regard to vaccines and assistance with medical facilities, and asserted greater indulgence with well-performing States and UTs.</p>