Srinagar: Surge in COVID-19 cases has led to all the sectors getting hit once again. Educational institutions have been closed, markets have been directed to open in staggered manner and the arrival of tourists in Kashmir has declined.
An analyst while talking to Precious Kashmir said, “The virus has once again raised its ugly head and it appears that the economy is all set to take a hit again this year. The cases are increasing at a rapid pace and the second wave is moving faster than the first one.”
He said, “During the past few months the economy was on its way to revival but now it seems that we may witness another debacle.”
“The outbreak of COVID-19 last year had wreaked havoc and it seems this year also we may end up witnessing a similar situation. All of us are caught in a quagmire of uncertainty and things may deteriorate if the curve doesn’t flatten.”
An observer said, “The business community in Kashmir has been facing losses since August 2019 and it seems agonies of business class won’t end so soon.”
He said, “If the COVID curve doesn’t flatten within a fortnight everything can come to a standstill once again. At present the priority is to save human lives. The government may have to once again intervene and direct the financial institutions to announce a moratorium on the repayment of loans.”
A businessman said, “We are still counting the losses that we suffered in 2019 and 2020 and if 2021 remains the same many of us will have to close down our ventures as the means of survival will get dried up. The government will have to come up with an outbox solution for our survival.”
A travel agent said, “This year we were expecting a huge rush of tourists as most of the hotels and resorts were booked but during the past few days many bookings have got cancelled.”
An owner of a private school said, “Most private schools are at the verge of closure and if the situation remains grim we may not be able to survive.”
An official said, “The situation is beyond our control and we cannot do much. But the government is monitoring the situation closely. No one will be left in the lurch. Our first priority at present is to fight the pestilence. If the situation worsens the government can give the concessions that were provided last year.”
COVID-19 resurgence hits tourism industry, closes schools, other businesses
J&K seeks extension in deadline for completion of WB-funded project
Wants to push timeline for its completion to June 30, 2022
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has sought one more extension in deadline for completion of the Rs 1500 crore World Bank funded project in the Union Territory.
Apprehensive about meeting June 30, 2021 deadline for closing the project, the project monitoring unit of the project has written to the Union Finance Ministry to accord sanction for completion of the project till June 30, 2022.
“Secretary Department of Economic Affairs requested for extension of Jehlum Tawi Flood Recovery Project till 30 June 2022 without any cancellation of sub-projects,” read the documents in possession of The Precious Kashmir.
It is pertinent to mention that original closing date for the project was June 30, 2021. But the World Bank and Union Finance Ministry extended timeline for its completion to June 30, 2021 after J&K administration sought more time, citing “peculiar circumstances” and “adverse weather conditions” in the UT.
According to progress report of the project, so far 185 packages of the project have been awarded for Rs 1563 crore .
It states that 83 sub-projects costing Rs.212.14 crore are under evaluation while one sub-project costing Rs 39 crore is under tendering.
As many as 39 works amounting to Rs.73.92 crore have been completed while 146 are in progress, the report states.
“10 sub-projects costing about $19.688 USD million liable for cancellation. These at different stages of allotment,” the report card of the project states.
The project was sanctioned by the World Bank in 2015 for reconstruction of the infrastructure hit by the devastating deluge of 2014 and strengthening the state’s disaster management mechanism.
After the deluge, the World Bank deputed a team for assessing the losses and to explore the possibilities for its intervention in rebuilding the damaged infrastructure.
J&K Govt adopts 5 pronged strategy to contain COVID-19 spread
JAMMU: Intensifying its efforts against the spread of Covid-19 virus government today stated that it is working on a 5 pronged strategy to contain the spread of corona virus in J&K.
These remarks were made in a press conference called today at the auditorium of department of Information and Public Relations. Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo; Principal Secretary Information & PDD, Rohit Kansal; Secretary DMRR&R, Simrandeep Singh and Mission Director NHM, ChoudharyYasin briefed the media during this press conference.
Financial Commissioner, H&ME, Atal Dulloo expressed that the situation is challenging but not out of control. He said that J&K has made ample preparations to meet the challenge. He gave out that the department is working on a 5 pronged strategy to restrict the spread of virus.
Elaborating, Atal Dulloo said that Intense testing including that of travellers and others suspects is being done at a rapid pace followed by containment process that includes contact tracing and several restrictions are in force. He said that Isolation & Treatment of infected persons is part of this strategy besides following Covid appropriate behaviour strictly. He expressed satisfaction that unlike previous year, this year there is one more weapon in their arsenal that is the covid vaccine.
Providing details Dulloo said that we have 13,400 active cases with a good recovery rate of 89.6% and mortality rate of just 1.38%. He said that there are around 120 containment zones and effective mechanism of contact tracing in place. He made out that some 1,64,000 contacts were traced this year with all the required restrictions applied to contain the spread of this disease.
Dulloo said that facilities available with the department are satisfactory with 3 state of the art Cobas-6800 testing machines to be installed in our premier health institutes shortly. He gave out that there are some 600 covid dedicated ventilators around J&K with only 48 occupied currently. He said that 6000 category-I covid beds are available with the hospitals including 10000 bulk oxygen cylinders and 3500 medium sized cylinders. He gave out that government is in a process of installing 36 oxygen generation plants with 23 to be made functional at the end of the week that will help in adding 2000 more oxygen beds to our kitty.
Regarding the position of other logistics it was given that sufficient numbers of PPE kits, N-95 Masks, Viral Transport Mediums (VTMs) are available with the department and there is no dearth of the same. He asked the media to play a vital role of assisting them in spreading the awareness to the people thereby helping in saving the lives. He asked them to inform people about the advantages of observing the covid appropriate behavior and going for vaccination whenever they are asked to do so.
When asked about the availability of the vaccine he said that department is continuously receiving the tranches of vaccine as per their requirements. He said that currently more than two lakh doses are available and the supply is going on satisfactorily.
Dulloo said that all the necessary steps would be taken to ensure safety of each individual besides better treatment of the persons affected. He said that more than 17 lakh doses have been inoculated till date with 91,142 (74.56%) health care workers, 2,61,589 (77.51%) front line workers and 11,27,511 (36.76%) 45 years plus citizens already administered their vaccine doses. He said that as per the instructions of the Prime Minister J&K has made preparations to launch universal adult vaccination drive from May 1.
Explaining further the measures taken by government it was said that during the previous day some 63,675 tests were performed at more than 1400 sites created for the purpose. He said that it includes 560 Health workers, 2760 front line workers and 60355 (45 years plus) senior citizens.
Principal Secretary Information & PDD, Rohit Kansal gave out that the misconceptions among the people are going away and people are coming forth for receiving the dose of vaccine. He said that additional check posts have been created at Lakhanpur, Samba, Lower Munda enroute National Highway to double check the testing done on incoming travellers besides at Railway Stations and airports. He said that the rate of testing is one of the best in the country and other facilities created are also up to mark as per international requirements and standards.
The Secretary Disaster Management said that from today onwards orders have been issued to ensure occupancy of 50% capacity in all public transport vehicles. He said that police has been instructed to keep a check on violators and impose fine wherever required. He said that other guidelines have also been issued in respect to holding of gatherings both indoor and outdoor besides for the opening of markets and other public places. He stressed that SOPs should be followed in all places & in all situations without any excuse or laxity.
The media persons asked about the several details about the future strategy and preparations to which replies by the concerned officer was given instantly.
COVID-19: J&K reports 2204 new cases, 13 deaths
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Government on Wednesday informed that 2204 new positive cases of novel Corona virus (905 from Jammu division and 1299 from Kashmir division), have been reported thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 152442.
Also 13 deaths have been reported, 10 from Jammu Division and 03 from Kashmir Division.
Moreover, 733 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged from various hospitals including 254 from Jammu Division and 479 from Kashmir Division.
According to the daily Media Bulletin on novel Corona virus (Covid-19), out of 152442 positive cases, 14928 are Active Positive, 135430 have recovered and 2084 have died; 781 in Jammu division and 1303 in Kashmir division.
The Bulletin further said that out of 6877526 test results available, 6725084 samples have been tested as negative till April 21.
Till date 1700503 persons have been enlisted for observation which included 71347 persons in home quarantine including facilities operated by government, 14928 in isolation and 127043 in home surveillance.
Besides, 1485101 persons have completed their surveillance period.
19-year-old Budgam girl becomes youngest victim this year
By: Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar: The second wave of Covid-19 has started to prove more lethal and infectious than the first wave as a 19-year-old girl from Budgam with no Comorbidities died just within a week after contracting the virus, at a Srinagar hospital on Wednesday.
Dr Nisar ul Hassan, a flu expert and the President Doctors Association Kashmir while talking to KNO said that the second wave of the Covid-19 is proving to be more lethal as it is more infectious than the first wave and there is need to ramp up genome sequencing.
He said that the teenage girl from Budgam had a five day history of breathlessness and was admitted at SMHS on April 15 with severe bilateral pneumonia.
“On the very next day she developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and was put on a ventilator,” the doctor said. “Despite giving the best, her condition deteriorated and she died today.” The virus had damaged her lungs, kidney and other organs. “She is the youngest Covid victim of current year,” he said.
Dr Nisar said that the second wave is behaving differently and is attacking multiple organs other than lungs. “More and more young people are being admitted in hospital with no underlying problems but their condition is severe,” he said.
In the first wave of Covid-19, it was effecting only elderly people and patients with comorbidities but this wave has started to affect young people and there is a need to check the presence of mutant variants by ramping up genome sequencing.
He said that in many cases, RTPCR is coming negative for Covid-19 but CT is showing virus, so there need to samples of positive patients as well as suspected patients for genome sequencing.
Admin ‘enforces’ 50 % opening of shops in Srinagar
By: Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar: In a bid to combat the deadly pandemic, the district administration Srinagar on Wednesday enforced 50 per cent opening of shops in the markets and other places across the district. However, the traders objected to the move, saying that the government should rather go for a shutdown on a rotational basis and that too after taking them on board.
Pertinently, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir has recorded sharp increase in the number of daily COVID-19 positive cases from past over two weeks, thus forcing the administration to take a series of measures to contain the virus from spreading.
In one such measure, the administration today enforced 50 per cent opening of shops with officials stating that the shops and business establishments will remain open on a rotational basis.
“Markets having shops on both sides of the road will remain open on a rotation basis on a particular day while markets having shops on one side of the road will remain open on an odd-even basis,” Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar had said in an order yesterday. Besides, the public transport shall as per the order be permitted to ply only at 50 per cent of authorized seating capacity.
However, the traders’ community expressed resentment against the order, saying that the decision will not help contain virus. They also complaint that they have not been taken on board before announcing the new decision.
While talking to KNO Noorudin, a shopkeeper from Lal Chowk said: “we can’t follow the opening of markets on rotation. Instead we can open shops on alternate days.”
Farooq Ahmed, another shopkeeper from Lalchowk said “ There is no benefit of this kind of rotational lockdown. Administration should impose area wise lockdown like one day for uptown and one day for downtown areas as that is a better option “.
President Traders Federation Kashmir Muhammad Yaseen Khan said: “ It is a surprising decision taken by authorities as nobody from association was taken on board. Administration should talk to traders first before imposing any Restrictions on traders.”—(KNO)
Admin gears up to ensure sufficient oxygen supply
By: Tasaduq Hussain
Srinagar: With the resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the authorities have ordered the setup of oxygen generation plants to ensure there is no crisis and people from remote areas in the northern belt aren’t made to suffer for want of oxygen.
North Kashmir alone has a total of 1562 active cases as on Tuesday and has reported 316 deaths with the highest figures of positivity and fatality in the Baramulla district alone.
The patients requiring a high flow of oxygen from twin districts of Bandipora and Kupwara were referred to either Srinagar or Baramulla.
Talking to KNO a senior official of Mechanical Hospital and Central Heating, a wing of Mechanical Engineering Department Kashmir said that the three districts in north Kashmir including Kupwara, Bandipora, and Baramulla will have 1000 oxygen Liters Per Minute (LPM) generating plants and all of them will be made functional in the ensuing week.
The official said that in North Kashmir, Kupwara will be the first district to have the oxygen generation plant functional with a capacity of 1000 liters per minute (LPM).
He said that the work is underway and the trial has been conducted successfully and hopefully the remaining will be finished by tomorrow evening.
“Subsequently it will be finalized in a day or two for use with pipe connections to all the beds separately,” an official said.
In Baramulla, the official said that Government Medical College (GMC), already has 350 Liters Per Minute (LPM), plant functional, and the work for an additional one thousand oxygen generating plant is underway and is expected to be finalized this week only.
An official said that the work for the oxygen generation plant is underway with one thousand Liters Per Minute (LPM) capacity is also underway at Sopore and it will be made functional in a couple of days positively while the trial will be conducted by tomorrow.
About Bandipora, the official said that the work is underway and more required material is being sent, and hopefully, it will be made functional sooner.
The official also said that given the spike in COVID-19 cases in the valley the Health Department has tasked us (MED) to make one oxygen generation plant functional in every district.
“Most vital gadgets required for the plant have been imported. It’s very helpful for the patients requiring a high flow of oxygen besides there is no need of an additional person or cylinder even no transportation of any logistics is required at all,” an official said.
He said that not only during the COVID-19 but patients with different problems including respiratory need a high flow of oxygen will have much ease.
Faster jabs, surveillance can only tame triple-mutant Indian virus
By: Rachel V Thomas
New Delhi: Increasing efforts towards faster mass vaccination and virus surveillance is the key to ward off dangers posed by a triple-mutant coronavirus now present in the country, health experts said on Wednesday.
The B1617 variant, first detected in Maharashtra, contains mutations from two separate virus variants — E484Q and L452R. The third mutation evolved from the double mutation where three different Covid strains combined to form a new variant.
Two of these triple-mutant varieties have been found in samples collected from Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
The RNA virus has the potential to acquire mutations as it replicates and spreads. These mutations can, sometimes, result in virus variants with better adaptability to its environment.
“As the virus spreads, it gets more opportunities to acquire mutations and evolve at a faster rate. This is a natural aspect of virus life-cycle but it is very important that we track these changes (virus surveillance) and follow the important viral characteristics associated with these mutations,” Dr Veena P. Menon, Faculty-In-Charge, Clinical Virology Laboratory, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, told IANS.
While the SARS-CoV2, causing the Covid-19 infections, has evolved at a much slower rate compared to Influenza or HIV viruses but as the number of infections rises, we are observing a rapid emergence of numerous viral variants.
With the increase in the number of infections and spread, there are more opportunities for the virus to mutate.
“As the infections are increasing at an alarming rate, there is a very high likelihood that we will encounter more virus variants in our population. Some of these variants get selected for faster transmissibility (spread) or ‘increased severity’ (more pathogenic) and also “immune (vaccine) escape”, Menon explained.
The evidence so far suggests that none of the important virus variants are associated with increased severity. However, an increased transmissibility is associated with the UK variant (lineage B1.1.7) while the Brazilian and South African variants exhibit ability to escape vaccine-induced immunity.
“Mutation in the respiratory virus is a natural process. This process is augmented in situations of high spread and presence of vaccinated people in the community. We will see more variants in India in future too,” Dr Harshal R. Salve, Associate Professor at Centre for Community Medicine, AIIMS New Delhi, told IANS.
Stricter implementation of public health infection control measures like usage of masks, social distancing and vaccinations are all key to prevent the spread. Besides, the need is to continue monitoring the virus evolution, the experts said.
“Combining genetic surveillance methods with evaluation of the biological and clinical characteristics of these virus variants will aid in better understanding virus variants and its clinical and public health impact,” Menon added.
Vaccinations can play a great role in curbing the spread of Covid.
Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, is able to “effectively neutralise” the double mutant strains, including the UK variant and the Brazil variant of the coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a report.
Oxygen leak leaves 24 Covid patients dead in Nashik
By: Quaid Najmi
Nashik (Maharashtra): In a horrific incident, at least 22 Covid-19 patients on ventilator support died at a Nashik public hospital after an abrupt drop in pressure due to leakage in oxygen supplies, and two others succumbed later, officials said.
The tragedy occurred at the Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital run by the BJP-controlled Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), which is among the biggest civic bodies, and in one of the worst Covid-19 hotspots in the state.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and other senior Central and state leaders cutting across political lines expressed their grief over the tragedy that occurred on the day of Ram Navami.
Visiting the tragedy-hit hospital this evening, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that according to NMC officials and experts, there were certain technical glitches while oxygen was being transferred from a tank which caused a sudden variation in the pressure of the oxygen being administered in the Covid-19 ward, and 24 patients on ventilator beds died gasping for breath within minutes.
“However, the NMC authorities handled the crisis very efficiently and helped prevent a bigger tragedy. They managed to save a part of the oxygen, which is stored at below minus 180 degrees Celsius,” said Tope.
People were left speechless as visuals of the tragedy were posted on social media with the invisible gas stored in the tank under extremely cold minus-temperatures suddenly gushing out in snow-white, hissing clouds, with workers and others running around in panic. Some technicians were seen struggling with the controls to curb the deadly outflow.
At that time, around 150 patients were undergoing treatment on oxygen or ventilator beds but when the oxygen pressure plummeted without warning, the hospital staffers were seen running helter-skelter to save their lives by shifting them to other wards or nearby hospitals.
“It’s a very serious incident… coming due to a drop in pressure of the oxygen being administered to the patients,” Tope said of the tragedy, which happened as the state struggles to beef up its oxygen supplies.
Shaken by the sudden loss of their near and dear ones, wailing relatives slammed the NMC authorities, demanding to know who would take responsibility for the tragedy.
NMC Municipal Commissioner Kailash Jadhav termed it as “a very sad tragedy”, ordered a probe into the incident and assured action against all found guilty of lapses.
He said that owing to the leak, the oxygen supply was stopped for around half-an-hour, which culminated in the disaster that claimed 24 Covid patients.
Nashik Collector Suraj Mandhare attributed the deaths to the pressure drop in the oxygen tank, which is managed and maintained by a private company.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that he was stunned to learn of the tragedy, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appealed to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and his party workers to extend all assistance to the victims’ families.
CM Thackeray said that “the state is numbed” by the sheer calamity in the midst of the Corona war being waged by the state and announced a total compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of each deceased.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar condoled the tragedy and assured a high-level investigation, with condolences also coming from Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray and other ministers. The Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis, described the incident as “terrible and disturbing”.
Hitting out at the BJP, Congress state spokesperson Sachin Sawant said: “The hospital is managed by the NMC which is under the BJP. The BJP must take responsibility. Where are the party’s Mayor and 3 MLAs.”
Besides Tope, state ministers Balasaheb Thorat, Rajendra Shingane, Chhagan Bhujbal and other senior leaders rushed to Nashik for a spot assessment of the situation.
BJP’s Leader of Opposition in Council, Pravin Darekar, however, attacked the MVA government and demanded lodging of cases under culpable homicide against NMC Commissioner Jadhav, accusing him of being “solely responsible” for the incident.
The Nashik incident has become the worst Covid-related tragedy in the past 13 months of the pandemic, days after a mega-fire killed 11 persons at a Mumbai hospital on March 26.
India reports nearly 3 lakh infections, over 2000 deaths
New Delhi: With nearly 3,00,000 fresh COVID-19 cases, India reported its biggest-ever single-day spike at 2,95,041 infections that has pushed the overall tally to 15,616,130, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.
The country also registered the highest-ever single-day spike in Covid-related deaths with 2,023 fatalities, pushing the death toll from the deadly infection to 182,570.
With the current surge, there are more than 2.1 million active cases across the nation.
Badly-affected cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhopal, Kolkata, Allahabad and Surat have almost run out of hospital beds with no available ICU beds in sight. The cities are now frantically converting extra capacity and hotels and stadiums into COVID-19 care centres.
With 277 deaths and 28,395 new infections, several government hospitals in the national capital on Tuesday complained of the shortage of oxygen stock, saying that it would last only for few hours and “people will die” if they do not get oxygen.
The top 10 states that have contributed the most to the daily Covid-19 tally in the past 24 hours are Maharashtra (62,097 cases), Uttar Pradesh (29,574 cases), Delhi (28,395 cases), Karnataka (21,794 cases), Kerala (19,577 cases), Chhattisgarh (15,625 cases), Madhya Pradesh (12,727 cases), Gujarat (12,206 cases), Rajasthan (12,201 cases) and Tamil Nadu (10,986 cases).
As many as 1,67,457 patients recovered and got discharged in the last 24 hrs, pushing the total number of recoveries to 1,32,76,039. Meanwhile, a total of 29,90,197 people have been administered nCoV jabs since Tuesday. The total number of vaccinations administered now stand at 13,01,19,310.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the nation this morning to follow the Covid-19 guidelines. Greeting the country on Ram Navami, PM Modi asked people to follow all the protocols in place to avoid getting the infection and keep the mantra of “dawai bhi, kadai bhi” in mind.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday over the coronavirus situation in India, he asserted that lockdowns should be the “last resort” to deal with the raging pandemic.
Globally, India has the second-highest case tally in the world after the US with more than 15 million cases, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
