'Jammu and Kashmir emerges as good as Kerala in COVID-19 fight'

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Union Territory (UT) has emerged as good as Kerala state in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complementing the medical fraternity of the UT, the Minister said that Junior Resident doctors and medical officers played a major role in the fight as they directly dealt with patients for effectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

"India has emerged as one of the frontline nations of the world to combat COVID-19 and J&K has emerged as good as Kerala state in fighting the pandemic," Singh said.

He said that the government was very concerned for the safety of the medical and healthcare workers for which it implemented an ordinance for their protection.

On the UTs request for augmenting the availability of standardised Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and other equipment, the Minister said that the J&K will be getting regular supply of PPE and testing kits for the coronavirus.

Singh expressed his views while reviewing the preparedness of J&K in combating COVID-19 virus. The review was held through a video conference with senior J&K officers, heads of government medical institutions and colleges.

He re-emphasised the use of Arogya Setu App in combating the COVID-19. Making a presentation on the preparedness of the UT, the Financial Commissioner, Department of Health Atal Dulloo informed that till date there have been a total of 434 positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of this 57 are from Jammu and 377 from Kashmir.

The Minister was informed that J&K is second only to Delhi in the whole country in testing cases per million of population. "The J&K is testing 818 persons per million population. About 80 zones in Kashmir and 15 in Jammu have been declared as containment zones," said Dulloo, adding dedicated hospitals have been set up in the UT to deal with all categories of cases.

The UT has also re-employed 126 retired doctors and decontamination tunnels are being set up in hospitals and walking sample collection booths have been set up. "All frontier personnel have been provided with masks and safety kits," the statement said.

The Minister was informed that meetings have been held with religious leaders and videos are also being circulated asking people to cooperate and pray from homes.

"AYUSH drugs and medicines are being distributed to all frontline staff and people to boost their immunity," said the statement.