Srinagar: The government has ordered complete lockdown for 84 hours from Thursday evening in 11 out of 20 districts in Jammu and Kashmir including Srinagar in view of unabated rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

“There will be complete lockdown in Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal in central, Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama in south and Baramulla in north Kashmir from 1900 hrs on Thursday to 0700 hrs on Monday,” an official said.

However, essential services have been exempted from the lockdown.

He said in the remaining three Kashmir districts — including Kupwara, Bandipora in north and Shopian — restrictions on assembly of more than five people under section 144 CrPc will remain imposed.

The lockdown was also imposed in four districts of Jammu division, including Jammu, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur.

The imposition of lockdown from Thursday evening to Monday morning in the seven Kashmir districts was also announced by the respective Deputy Commissioners on their personal and official twitter handles.

As many as 3023 new positive cases of novel Corona virus, including 989 from Jammu division and 2034 from Kashmir division, were reported on Wednesday. Thirty people, including 18 from Kashmir and 12 from Jammu, lost their lives to the virus on Wednesday.

New York: US researchers have found that combining Remdesivir — a drug currently approved for treating Covid-19 patients — with repurposed drugs for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is 10 times more effective at slowing down SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, showed that four HCV drugs — Simeprevir, Vaniprevir, Paritaprevir, and Grazoprevir — in combination with Remdesivir boosted the efficacy of the drug by as much as 10-fold.

The combination therapy points a way toward a treatment for unvaccinated people who become infected, as well as for vaccinated people whose immunity has waned, for example due to the emergence of virus variants that escape this immune protection, said the research team.

“Because these HCV drugs are already approved for use and their potential side effects are known, such a combination therapy could be tested in humans more quickly than for a new drug,” said Robert M. Krug, Professor at the University of Texas.

One drawback of Remdesivir is that it must be administered intravenously, limiting its use to patients already admitted to the hospital.

“Our goal is to develop a combination of oral drugs that can be administered to outpatients before they are sick enough to require hospitalisation,” said Krug. “The HCV drugs that enhance Remdesivir’s antiviral activity are oral drugs. It is important to identify oral drugs that inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase in order to develop an effective outpatient treatment.”

Using a supercomputer to model how drugs bind to viral proteins, the team predicted that 10 HCV drugs would bind snugly to a SARS-CoV-2 protease. The researchers tested seven of these drugs in a secure biocontainment facility for their ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in monkey and human cells growing in culture.

All seven HCV drugs inhibited virus replication, but all the team were surprised to find that four of them inhibited an entirely different type of SARS-CoV-2 protease, called the papain-like protease. And that difference proved to be important. When each of the seven HCV drugs was tested for virus inhibition in combination with Remdesivir, only the four that targeted the unexpected protease boosted the efficacy of Remdesivir, by as much as tenfold, the team explained.

Srinagar: Authorities have successfully conducted trail run of a newly established Oxygen Plant at Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital here in Srinagar.

Announcing it, Deputy Commissioner Dr Aijaz Assad in a tweet wrote: “Trial run of new Oxygen Plant at SMHS hospital conducted successfully. From today we are adding 1000 lpm Oxygen production to the existing system at SMHS.”

“Appreciate Team Mech Engg Deptt who worked in double shifts & have made the plant operational in 96 hours”, it concluded. (GNS)

New Delhi: Covid infections continue to spread rapidly despite lockdowns in many parts of the country. More than 3 lakh corona cases have been reported in India for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday. India reported a record number of 3,60,960 cases and 3,293 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s data released on Wednesday morning.

According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 1,79,97,267 persons have been infected with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, out of which 1,48,17,371 people have fully recovered after defeating the virus.

For the first time the number of deaths crossed 2-lakh mark, with a total of 2,01,187 people losing their lives to the virus across the country, according to the health ministry data, Currently, there are 29,78,709 active cases in India.

At the same time,Delhi’s death toll has crossed 15 thousand mark. The national capital also recorded more than 24 thousand new corona infections in the last 24 hours, with 381 persons succumbing to the virus, a record high.

The registration for the third phase of the vaccination drive for citizens above 18 years of age, which begins on May 1, will start on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Those eligible can book their slots on Co-Win portal or the Aarogya Setu app.

Jammu:  The Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, while chairing a high-level meeting reviewed the establishment of two 500-bedded COVID hospitals, one each in Jammu and Srinagar by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Chief Secretary, Jammu & Kashmir B V R Subrahmanyam, FC Health Atal Dulloo, Union Secretaries of the concerned departments and officers from DRDO, ITBP, and AFMS Institute participated in the meeting.

The Chief Secretary informed that the UT has witnessed a consistent surge in patient-load over the past few days. The existing health care facilities are adequately catering to the needs of patients; however, a continuation of this upward trend may lead to a shortage of COVID beds. To successfully mitigate shortages in medical facilities, it was requested that the temporary DRDO COVID hospitals be constructed well in time.

He further requested that the upcoming hospitals must be equipped with isolation beds having oxygen support and 125 fully equipped ICU beds.

Assessing the requirement of dedicated COVID infrastructure in the Union territory, the Union Home Secretary asked the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to immediately identify suitable locations for constructing 500-bedded hospitals while asking DRDO to evaluate and submit corresponding proposal estimates through a team of experts.

The meeting was informed that the Government of Jammu & Kashmir has identified two patches of land in Jammu and Srinagar for early start of construction work.

In the past, the Defence Research and Development Organization has built 1000 bedded temporary COVID hospitals across the country in approximately 12 days each. The construction of two 500-bedded hospitals in J&K will greatly reinforce medical infrastructure for dedicated COVID care in the Union territory.

Srinagar: All the five congregational prayers at historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar have been suspended till further orders.

A spokesman of the Anjuman Auqaf Jama Masjid (AAJ), in a statement said here Wednesday afternoon that police officials visited Jama Masjid today morning and asked the Auqaf to suspend all congregational prayers at the historic worship place as Section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Srinagar.

In view of the rapid spread of Covid-19, although all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were being strictly adhered to during prayers in the Jamia masjid, Anjuman has decided to suspend all congregational prayers at the mosque for the time being for the safety of namazis(devotees).

The AAJ is headed by chairman of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is under house arrest since August 4, 2019, a day before the Centre abrogated Article 370 and 35 A besides divided Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories (UT).