COVID-19 testing to be intensified in the upcoming season of festivities, winter

Srinagar: The Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Tuesday chaired a meeting to take stock of efforts toward mitigating COVID-19 pandemic in view of the upcoming festivities and winter season.
Administrative Secretaries of departments of Health & Medical Education, Power Development, Rural Development, Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir, and Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all the districts participated in the meeting.
The Chief Secretary complimented the district administration of Jammu district for effectively controlling the recent surge in COVID cases by strictly ensuring parameter control, increasing testing in the concentrated clusters and earnestly adhering to the COVID related SOPs.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the Deputy Commissioners to increase the per-day testing rate for early detection of cases followed by their isolation and respective medical intervention, especially in the upcoming season of festivities, and winter. “In the winter season when influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARIs) are widespread, it will be paramount to test all the vulnerable sections for COVID-19 and prevent its outbreak”, he added.
Regarding testing during the forthcoming season of festivities, the civil administration and the Health Department were asked to extensively collect samples from the high impact areas with high vulnerability including markets, offices, banks, universities, colleges, health institutions, and residential colonies with incidences of infection.
Health and Medical Education Department informed that the recently concluded serological survey of Jammu province has established the spread of COVID infection in the region at 8% with an almost uniform rate among rural-urban, old-young, and male-female categories. The Department was asked to conduct a serological survey of Srinagar city to assess its infection rate.
Further, it was informed that the frequency of trains coming to Katra and Jammu is being gradually increased, for which DCs of Reasi, Udhampur and Jammu districts were directed to intensify the testing of all incoming passengers at the respective railway stations.