Amid an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, authorities have decided to impose a weekend curfew to check the spread of the virus. The weekend curfew will be imposed in the Union Territory starting Saturday evening till Monday morning. Only essential services will be allowed to function during the period, the official statement said.
"Complete corona curfew to be observed in the Union Territory from 8 PM, 24th April (Saturday) till 6 AM, April 26 (Monday). Essential and emergency services to be allowed. All market, commercial institutions will remain closed," Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted from his official Twitter handle.
Authorities have already imposed a night curfew in urban areas of all the 20 districts of UT between 10 pm and 5 am, wherein, all non-essential travel is prohibited during the period.
Meanwhile, J&K reported 2,030 fresh covid-19 cases while 15 more people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours. Among the new cases, 834 were reported from the Jammu division and 1,196 from the Kashmir Valley, taking the overall case tally to 1,58,374.
Regarding the fresh deaths, an official bullet issued this evening said that seven were reported from the Jammu division and eight from Kashmir Valley, taking the total fatality count to 2,126.
In all, 944 COVID-19 patients have recovered -- 360 from Jammu Division and 584 from the Valley.
Free vaccine to all in 18-45 years age group
However, it has been decided that COVID-19 vaccination for people in the age group 18-45 years will be cost-free in the UT. "The cost of the vaccine will be fully borne by the government of J&K. The health department will constitute a panel to work out the logistics," Lieutenant Governor informed.
Testing, vaccination campaign intensified
With an aim to tackle the recent upsurge of Covid 19, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo asked the officers to effectively implement a five-pronged strategy in J&K which includes testing, containment, isolation & treatment, Covid appropriate behaviour, and vaccination.
The FC directed the concerned officers to expedite the testing and vaccination drive, study the increase of the test positivity rate and take remedial measures accordingly.
"Testing has to be increased significantly at all designated facilities and bring down the test positivity rate in each district. All the testing facilities have to make sure that the set targets are met on daily basis" he said, adding that installation of oxygen generation plants needs to be expedited which would augment the oxygen supply of hospitals.
He directed the officers that there should be no delay in the result of RT-PCR tests and directed the medical colleges to make sure that they do perform 2,000 tests each daily.
Complete corona curfew to be observed in the Union Territory from 8PM, 24th April (Saturday) till 6AM, April 26 (Monday).
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) April 24, 2021
Essential and emergency services to be allowed. All market, commercial institutions will remain closed.
It has been decided that COVID-19 vaccination for people in the age group 18-45 years will be cost- free in the UT. The cost of vaccine will be fully borne by the government of J&K. The health department will constitute a panel to work out the logistics.
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) April 24, 2021
