STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Reviewing Covid containment measures in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday called for activating war rooms immediately besides ensuring effective functionality of help-lines and keeping joint enforcement teams on the job.
New COVID guidelines for J&K
All Colleges, Schools, Coaching Centres to have Online Teaching; Maximum Indoor/Outdoor gathering limit restricted to 25
JAMMU: In view of spike in COVID case in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, government on Sunday issued fresh COVID guidelines asking for adopting online medium of teaching in all educational institution.
“All Colleges, Schools, Polytechnics, ITIs, Coaching Centres for Civil Services/ Engineering/NEET etc to adopt online medium of teaching. There shall be no in- person teaching,” reads an order issued by State Executive Committee. It added, “Educational institutions shall be permitted to direct attendance of vaccinated staff for administrative purposes only. The Head of the institution must ensure that guidelines related to social distancing and Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) are strictly followed.”
The State Executive Committee reiterated that a maximum number of people permitted to attend any indoor/ outdoor gathering shall be strictly restricted to 25 while Banquet Halls in all the Districts of J&K are permitted to allow gathering up to 25 vaccinated persons (with verifiable RT-PCR or RAT not older than 72 hours) or 25% of the authorised capacity (whichever is less), preferably in open spaces.
Night Curfew shall continue to remain in force in all Districts from 9 pm to 6 am with complete restriction on non-essential movement, the order stated.
“The State Executive Committee, in exercise of the powers conferred upon it under section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, hereby orders that the guidelines/ instructions on COVID containment in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, already notified vide Government Orders 35 and 36-JK (DMRRR) dated 29-05-2021 read with Government Orders 73-JK (DMRRR) dated 22-10-2021, 91-JK (DMRRR) dated 28.12.2021 and 02-JK (DMRRR) of 2022 dated 05.01.2022 shall continue to remain in force till further orders,” it added.
“The Home Secretary, Government of Jammu & Kashmir shall monitor the enforcement of Covid Appropriate Behaviour closely and shall submit a Report to the Chairperson of the State Executive Committee (Chief Secretary) on daily basis,” the order stated.
“All the Government Department(s)/Office(s) shall minimise conducting in-person meetings/ interactions etc and all Administrative Secretaries/ Head of the Departments/Institution) shall ensure optimal use of virtual mode for conducting official meetings etc,” it stated.
Reviewing the COVID-19 situation across the Union Territory during a high-level meeting with members of Covid Task Force, DCs and SSPs, the Lt Governor instructed the Nodal officers to ensure
smooth coordination in providing Covid kits and other assistance to people in need. He also directed the district administrations to gear up preparedness and provide all assistance to healthcare teams.
“We should be fully prepared to tackle the surge in cases. Existing decentralized system at the Panchayat level should be made functional for immediate medical attention”, observed the Lt Governor.
Explicit directions were passed to the Divisional & District Administrations for optimum utilization of testing capacity, besides declaring micro-containment zones & hot spots in areas registering increase in cases, and to avoid crowding at public places. “Any laxity in enforcement of CAB will not be tolerated”, said the Lt Governor.
The Lt Governor further called for conducting IEC campaign at divisional and district level to highlight threats from highly transmissible variant and encourage people to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour.
“From tomorrow, we will start administering the booster dose of the vaccine to the eligible population (healthcare and frontline workers, and those over 60 years of age with co-morbidities). All necessary arrangements should be made for walk-in and registered eligible population”, the Lt Governor asked the officials.
The Lt Governor also urged the police personnel, health workers, government employees to take all precautionary measures while serving the people.
Vivek Bhardwaj, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department gave a detailed briefing on the district-wise analysis of Covid-19 situation & threat level, status of testing, contact tracing and vaccination across the UT.
He informed the chair that the vaccination drive for the 15-18 year age group is going on smoothly across the UT.
J&K is in a better position as compared to other States/UTs in terms of Vaccination, with 99% coverage of second dose for population above 18 years, it was informed.
The chair also took stock of the implementation of directions passed in previous meetings. Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor; Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Mukesh Singh, ADGP Jammu; Dr Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Dr. Saleem-ur-Rehman, Director General, Family Welfare, MCH & Immunization; Choudhary Mohammad Yasin; Mission Director NHM; Deputy Commissioners and SSPs, attended the meetings, in person and through virtual mode.