10 additional oxygen generation plants to come up in J&K
Jammu: Ten additional oxygen generation plants will soon come up in Jammu and Kashmir with the intervention of the central government, an official spokesperson said on Sunday.
The information was given at a meeting of the COVID Task Force chaired by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha here, the spokesperson said, adding the meeting had a detailed assessment of the district-wise coronavirus scenario and containment measures required to control its spread.
The Lt Governor asked the functionaries concerned to prioritize the completion of all civil and other auxiliary works so that early functioning of these 10 oxygen plants can be ensured.
"Most of the big COVID care government hospitals in J&K now have their own oxygen generation plants. The upcoming oxygen plants will add to the capacity of oxygen availability in the UT," he said.
In order to break the transmission chain of the virus, the spokesperson, said it was decided that 50 per cent of staff in government departments would attend office as per duty rosters and their movement would be strictly through passes during coronavirus curfew which was extended till 7 am on May 17 across the UT.
The spokesperson said a decision was also taken to establish two more triage centres, one each in both divisions to facilitate COVID patients.
While noting that early diagnosis of the infection has a better survival rate, the Lt Governor asked the divisional commissioners to extensively conduct house-to-house screenings and COVID-19 status verification for identifying vulnerable populations through dedicated teams at the local level.
Emphasizing on optimum utilization of technological interventions and reaching out to people with medical facilities through tele-medicine, the Lt Governor directed the officers concerned to ensure that tele-medicine facility is available for the public in medical colleges and other tertiary care hospitals.
"A comparative analysis was also done during the meeting to get a clear picture of the district-wise level of transmission rate registered during pre-coronavirus curfew and coronavirus curfew days. It was noted that the restrictions have yielded some favourable results in containing its spread, especially at the community level," the spokesperson said.
He said the police department was directed to ensure strict enforcement of restrictions in areas with a high number of positive cases.
The Lt Governor also took an overview of the progress being made in the establishment of 500-bedded COVID facilities, one each in Srinagar and Jammu, by the DRDO team, besides enhancing the capacity of COVID care facilities by the Army.
The meeting was informed that a total of 76,04,448 coronavirus tests have been performed in the UT, with 3,000 tests per million population per day on an average.
