Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir on Friday reported five new cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory to 75, a senior government official said.
Principal Secretary Planning, Information and Government Spokesperson, Rohit Kansal informed that with the addition of 5 new cases today the number of positive COVID 19 cases have risen to 75 in J&K.
Giving breakup of the figures at a press briefing, Kansal said out of 75 cases 70 are active cases (54 in Kashmir Division and 16 in Jammu division.) and a total of 22,993 cases are under surveillance so far.
He said that out of 75 positive cases 3 (2 from Jammu Division and 1 from Kashmir Division) have recovered and there is every likelihood that one more case will recover very soon.
Kansal revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has also been testing cases aggressively and so far 1218 tests have been conducted which is 6.5% of total under surveillance.
The government spokesperson said that nearly 2000 contacts of positive cases have been identified of which 975 have been traced and tested. He reassured that all the identified contacts will be traced and tested for Covid 19. He said, “We plan to test every single one of the 2000 contacts that we have identified.”
Kansal said that in all 34 hotspots/red zones have been identified in J&K of which 24 are in Kashmir Division and 10 in Jammu Division. These include 7 in Pulwama, 4 in Bandipora, 4 in Budgam, 5 in Srinagar, 2 in Shopian, 1 each in Ganderbal and Baramulla in Kashmir Division. 4 in Jammu district, 5 in Rajouri and 1 in Udhampur district of Jammu Division.
Kansal informed that steps have been initiated to enhance and upgrade the health infrastructure in UT and said that 68 new medical professional including doctors/specialists/paramedics/medical officers/nurses have joined their respective duties. The UT Government is also procuring masks, PPEs and ventilators to augment the existing health infrastructure and every possible effort is being made to ensure that there is no shortage of manpower in the health sector.
He assured that adequate arrangements have been made to ensure sufficient supply of essential commodities. The NH 44 Highway has been reopened and made functional and nearly 800 trucks and tankers have crossed Jawahar Tunnel carrying essential goods to the Valley. He informed that supply of fruits and vegetables and POL has also reached the Valley. The downward movement of material from the Valley such as apples from cold stores has also started.
He informed that since the beginning of lockdown upto 8 AM in the morning, 5037 trucks carrying essential goods containing foodgrains (1579), LPG (384), POL tankers(123), fruits and vegetables (1530), medicines and health supply (180), milk (180), cattle feed /fodder 372 have entered J&K from Lakhanpur. In order to augment the supply lines, he said that 248 local industrial units have been made operational. These include units manufacturing animal feed, pharmaceutical products, surgical bandage, masks, hospital gowns besides eatables like flour, rice and edible Oil.
