COVID-19 cases cross 400 mark in Jammu and Kashmir, 27 cases reported in a day

The number of COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir crossed the 400 mark on Wednesday as 27 more cases- all from Kashmir- were reported on the day. Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal tweeted that the new cases in Kashmir had taken the total number of cases in the valley to 351.

In Jammu, 56 have been reported so far, he said. Although the testing rate in J&K has been increased to 703 per million, which is the second-highest in the country, while initially, it was 77.5 per million.

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“We were one of the first to have our own testing facilities. Since then we have been continuously ramping up our facilities. From a testing capacity of 50 tests a day, the number of samples tested yesterday was more than 700,” Kansal said, added that the capacity will be shortly braced up to 1000 tests per day in our four ICMR accredited labs.

“We are enhancing testing capacities in these labs as well and shortly adding two more labs. We are maintaining supply chains of essential reagents and are adding more and advanced equipment and manpower,” said Kansal He further informed that decentralized sample collection centers have also been set up in the districts.

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Control measures in Jammu and Kashmir

Talking about the control measures, he said, based on the results and number of active cases and other parameters, five districts namely Bandipore, Baramulla, Kupwara, Srinagar and Jammu have been identified as hotspot districts in the UT. Meanwhile, the Divisional Administration Kashmir has come up with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for pregnant ladies in the COVID-19 Red Zone areas across the Kashmir Valley.

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As per the laid down procedures, the pregnant ladies in Red Zones will be enlisted and their check-up will be managed at recently established health centers in Red and Buffer zones while the proper birth plan will be executed by ANM and ASHA’s under the supervision of concerned Block Medical Officers as per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), GOI guidelines.

The pregnant ladies have been strictly advised to attend anti-natal checkups at the recently established health centers by ASHA’s and their cadres both in red and buffer zones.

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