Owais Gul
Srinagar, July 11: Amid spike in the number of COVID cases in Srinagar, a high-level meeting was chaired by the district administration on Saturday wherein the surge in the Coronavirus cases was discussed.
The meeting was attended by the administrative, police officials and other stakeholders.
Reliable sources told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that a high-level meeting was chaired by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.
Sources said that it was told during the meeting that the contacts of positive cases, which are being tested positive, have also gone up. “During the period of lockdown, one or two contacts of any positive case were being tested positive. But, after the relaxation in the lockdown, at least 15-20 contacts of a positive case are being detected positive in many instances ,” the meeting as per sources discussed.
They further said that the meeting also stated that the cases are witnessing a surge in the district as being the busiest place, people from other districts also visit here and majority of the people are not following the health advisories.
Srinagar’s high number of cases also includes huge numbers from other districts referred to tertiary care hospitals for advance treatment and testing positive here during mandatory testing before medical procedures, the meeting as per the sources said.
Meanwhile, officials told KNO that the people need to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in letter and spirit to help in reducing the number of positive cases. “The people have two options. Either to follow the health guidelines in spirit or to witness another lockdown, which will be for a longer period,” they said.
Officials said if the people follow the health guidelines in spirit, the cases will go down in the district, but if they will not follow the advisories, the administration will be compelled to announce a lockdown for a longer period to prevent the deadly virus from spreading.
Pertinently, Srinagar has topped the list of COVID cases as the toll of active cases has gone up to 1012. From Sunday, the district has recorded 456 COVID cases in Srinagar.
