COVID Night curfew reimposed as J&K sees highest single-day spike in 6 months CS for conducting 2 L tests per day; Govt cancels leaves of health officials, docs recalled at DRDO hospital Jmu

After sudden spike in Covid -19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has re-imposed night curfew across the union territory today. Also the detection of 400 fresh cases of the Covid-19 after six months have given a whiff of the anticipated third wave, even as health authorities in Jammu have cancelled the leave of its employees. Meanwhile in view of rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Army has issued a fresh advisory to all its units and formations, recommending precautionary measures to check the spread of the infection.
Meanwhile, India today reported its first Omicron death in Udaipur, confirmed the centre. The man, Laxminarayan Nagar, was 73 years old.

In fresh restrictions imposed across the UT with regards to Covid containment taken in a meeting led by the chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta and other senior officials of the health department-after the increase in cases it was ordered that there shall be complete restriction on non-essential movement on the entire UT from 9pm to 6am till further orders.

After the rise in cases the government has order redeployment of doctors in the 500-beded Covid hospital in Jammu. The Additional Chief Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj has ordered that 50 doctors who have been recently recalled from Covid hospital Jammu and are awaiting order of posting in directorate of Health Services Jammu shall also report to incharge medical superintendent 500-beded Covid hospital Jammu. The order has directed the doctors to join the Covid hospital positively today.

The fresh cases is witnessed twofold rise against Tuesday, as 199 cases were reported a day before. As per the data J&K has witnessed highest positivity rate of 0.7 percent first time after June last year. Positivity rate on Wednesday is 0.7 percent as 418 cases are found positive from 59,716 tests conducted in last 24 hours while as on 30th June last year 364 cases were found positive from 53,662 with 0.67 positivity rate besides that previous highest positive cases in over last six months was 415 on 27 June last year.

As per an order issued by the Director Health Services Jammu, leave of all Health staff including doctors, paramedics and other officials has been cancelled in view of sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Jammu division. As per the order, directions have been issued to all Chief Medical Officers and Medical Superintendents not to grant leave, except for Medical and Emergency conditions, to health care workers with immediate effect.
Earlier Chief Secretary has asked the Health and Medical Education Department to scale up testing to reach a target of 2 lakh tests per day with a proportional increase in RtPCR tests. The Department was further asked to ramp up medical facilities and prepare for catering to any surge in reported cases of infections. The Department was also asked to stock up on medical supplies and keep all equipment, machinery, and infrastructure in a state of readiness.

Meanwhile, the only protection against the deadly contagion-the vaccination of teenagers is in full swing, as 72 hours after the special drive about 1.5 lakh teens in have been inculcated with first dose across the union territory.

The sudden spike in the cases, have pushed the active positive figure of the entire UT to 1819, which previously had gone below 1000 mark. At present there are 894 cases in Jammu and 925 in Kashmir region so far. A top official of Health and Medical Education had said that in the last six months, the number of isolation beds in J&K have been increased from 8,000 to 20,000.

Of the 418 cases reported today, 311 were from Jammu region and 107 were from Kashmir region. Most number of fresh cases of 156, were reported from Reasi district, followed by 109 from the winter capital-Jammu. Most of the cases from district Reasi were from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, SMVDU, which has become hotspot now a days after its large number of students were found COVID positive prompting authorities to close the varsity and postpone the exams of 3rd semester.

Despite becoming Covid hotspot, SMVDU has once again has hit the headlines after authorities over here called to the candidates for the interviews of Draftsman’s post on Thursday.

Meanwhile, SMVDU authorities Wednesday screened its one hundred and fifty staff and faculty members and one hundred and eighty eight outsourced workers which were found negative to the infection.
However, amid a surge in the Covid-19 cases, the government is mulling to impose night curbs in Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to prevent the virus from spreading.

In the advisory, the Integrated HQ of the Ministry of Defence (Army) prescribed specific measures as per the weekly positivity rate of COVID-19 cases in its establishments besides suggesting health education and awareness campaigns to deal with the situation. It said the weekly positivity rate in the Army for the week ending December 31 was 2.34 per cent but added that the current rising trends necessitate re-visiting the existing measures. The advisory said if a station records the positivity rate in the range of one to two per cent, then all its personnel returning from leave and temporary duties should undergo COVID-19 tests and that all social gatherings should be cancelled.

In such a scenario, the official meetings should be held virtually and quarantine facilities should be kept in a full state of readiness. If the weekly positivity rate is in the range of two to five per cent, then all personnel returning from outstation leave and duties should be quarantined for seven days and tested before allowing them to leave the quarantine facilities, the advisory said. It said teleconsultations for treatment should be resorted to if feasible besides activating quarantine facilities. The advisory recommended that attendance in offices should be restricted if the weekly positivity rate ranges between five to 10. It said all non-essential travel of service personnel should be curtailed in such a scenario. For stations that report a weekly positivity rate of over 10, the advisory recommended stopping physical attendance as well as all non-essential leave and temporary training.
The advisory said the military hospitals will continue to provide all Covid-related and emergency/life-saving services. It said the hospitals should postpone “cold surgeries’ ‘ if the bed-occupancy (ICU) is 40 per cent. The advisory also recommended ensuring “advance engagement and information campaigns” so that there is no misinformation or panic. It said actions will be taken to reduce overcrowding in offices, personnel lines and dining halls. Food timings in dining halls to be staggered, it added.