Increasing cases of Covid call for caution, not panic: Director SKIMS

Srinagar: Amid rise in Covid cases in various parts of country including a slight increase in Jammu & Kashmir, Director SKIMS Prof. Parvaiz A. Koul has asked people not to panic and said following Covid appropriate behavior is critical to contain further spread of the infection.
According to a statement issued on Monday the Director SKIMS Prof Koul said that the situation is not worrisome as the positivity rate so far is not that high and hence there is no need to panic but lowering guard and paying no heed to Covid guidelines can degenerate the situation. He advised people to exercise caution in the face of recent reports of increased number of COVID cases from various parts of the country. “The rising numbers call for adoption of measures like use of masks and frequent hand washing in exercise of abundant caution for prevention of the spread of respiratory viruses in general and SARS CoV2 in particular”, he added. He further said modelling studies from credible institutes like the IHME, University of Washington do not predict any fresh COVID wave in the immediate future for the region of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. However exercising caution is clearly beneficial so that we avoid any upsurge in the cases. The positivity rate among the tested samples is not high and the authorities are keeping a close watch on situation. Since there are areas globally as also in the country, where sporadic increase of cases is reported, it would be prudent to stay alert without any panic. We need not be complacent but at the same time, panic should not creep in.