New Delhi, Jan 8 Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday reviewed the pandemic preparedness in Jammu & Kashmir.
During a high-level online meeting connecting different districts ranging from Jammu to Srinagar, the minister advised setting up of a designated dashboard for real time updates related to the ongoing third wave of the pandemic.
Divisional commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu, Pandu Rang Pole and Raghav Langar, respectively, informed the minister that by and large there is no major concern in each of the two divisions.
In Kashmir division, among the cases tested for genome sequencing so far, no Omicron case has been detected so far, whereas three cases of the new variant have been reported from Jammu division.
The vaccination drive is almost complete barring a few far-flung pockets in districts like Kishtwar.
Singh advised setting up of at least one dashboard each in the office of divisional commissioner in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions for real time information, and offering regular inputs for follow up.
He also suggested setting up of a public helpline in order to build confidence among the common masses.
Observing that in certain instances, there was delay in communication between the district administration and the health department, Singh suggested setting up of a WhatsApp group involving all the concerned parties.
He said much of the improvement in performance and delivery can be achieved by using the existing technologies.
Singh observed that so far, most of the positive cases in the third wave have remained asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic with flu-like symptoms, which invariably wane away in 4-5 days.
However, he said, there is no room to be complacent because during the second wave also, there was a surge in the later weeks and, therefore, the next few weeks will determine the nature and course of the ongoing wave of the pandemic.
The minister was informed that while night curfew has been imposed in Jammu, no decision has yet been taken on imposing weekend lockdown on the pattern of Delhi-NCR.
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