Srinagar: The J&K government on Saturday evening extended the lockdown in four districts of Jammu and Kashmir including the twin capitals of the Union Territory—Srinagar and Jammu, till May 06.
In a tweet, the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), J&K announced that the lockdown in four districts of J&K including Srinagar, Jammu, Baramulla and Budgam has been extended.
The tweet informed that the lockdown period, which was ending at 7AM on Monday, will continue to remain in place till Thursday (May 06).
“Extension of COVID control measures The Corona Curfew ending at 7 am on Monday, 3 May 2021 stands extended till 7 am on Thursday, 6 May 2021 in the 4 districts of Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam and Jammu,” DIPR-J&K tweeted.
In another tweet, DIPR informed that the “Corona Curfew” at night shall continue in all municipal and urban local body limits of all 20 districts of J&K.
“The Corona curfew at night shall continue in all Municipal/urban local body limits of all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including the above 4 districts. Night curfew will be in force from 8 pm to 7 am. Other restrictions when curfew is not there continue as before,” DIPR-J&K tweeted
Later in the day, an official press release informed that the decision to extend the lockdown was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha in which he passed specific directions for effectively controlling the spread of the coronavirus in the UT and providing best care to the patients.
The LG is closely monitoring the Covid scenario in J&K and is taking regular review meetings with the concerned departments in order to assess the situation, the press release said.
It said after analyzing the district-wise situation, the meeting decided to extend “Corona Curfew” for three more days in the above mentioned four districts. A re-assessment of the situation will be taken before May 06 for laying down further action plan. Instructions were issued to the concerned officers for continuing micro-containment zoning as per requirement.
Emphasizing on optimal availability of oxygen supply, the LG directed for conducting ‘oxygen audit’ in every hospital of the UT. He also directed the Health department to lay special focus on the judicious usage of oxygen.
The LG also directed for increasing beds with oxygen cylinders, besides effective operationalization of 108 Ambulance service to cater to the needs of the patients.
During the meeting, the LG sought feedback from concerned Administrative Heads, Divisional Commissioners, Health and Police departments regarding the evolving situation and also invited their suggestions for strengthening the pandemic control system component against the spread of Covid-19.
Underlining the importance of maintaining synergy between the departments for speedy decision on planning, coordination, and logistics, the LG constituted a five-member Crisis Management Group, comprising of Chief Secretary; Financial Commissioners – Finance, and Health & Medical Education; Home Secretary and Principal Secretary, Public Works (R&B) department.
On vaccination, the LG asked the concerned officers to ensure that vaccination drive is not hampered during the lockdown period, and advised them to take comprehensive measures, besides reaching out to targeted age groups through mobile vaccination.
The meeting also decided to have separate locations for different age groups for vaccination.
The LG directed the concerned officers to make correct projection of requirements, besides effectively streamlining the supply and demand so that there would be apt availability of the necessary resources.
He further asked the concerned officers to coordinate with Army authorities for augmenting their existing health capacities.
At the outset, Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education gave a detailed overview of district-wise Covid situation in J&K, including medical infrastructure, bed occupancy, daily trend, testing and vaccination rate, testing capacities, oxygen availability, etc. He also informed the meeting that the DRDO team has arrived in the UT to set up 500-bedded Covid facility, one each in Srinagar and Jammu.
It was informed that 1,50,000 doses of vaccination for the people falling between the age of 18-45 years were procured and vaccination drive for the said age group has been started today.
During the meeting, various valuable suggestions were made by the participants for effective Covid management pertaining to regulating logistic supply, monitoring the oxygen availability, infrastructure, and utilization of trained human resource, adopting an effective approach for rural and urban areas, increasing ‘Jan Bhagidari’ (public cooperation) in Covid control measures, developing comprehensive preventive and treatment plans, etc.
BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh, DGP; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the LG; AG Mir and Mukesh Singh – ADGsP; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Choudhary Mohammad Yasin, Mission Director, NHM; HoDs and other senior officers participated in the meeting, in person, and through virtual mode.
