IN PICTURES: Army’s relentless efforts in combating COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mar 2020, the Chinar Corps of the Indian Army has been contributing to the efforts of the civil administration and the citizens to combat COVID-19 in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. In this second wave of COVID, various activities are being undertaken by Chinar Corps across the length and breadth of Kashmir, notable among them being the reactivation of 250-bedded dedicated Covid Care Center at Rangreth, establishing two 20-bedded facilities with High Dependency Units in Baramulla and Uri. Some more such facilities to treat COVID patients are in advanced stages of planning and are being established at different places.

Ex-servicemen of the three services have volunteered to be COVID warriors and 127 such veterans from J&K have reported augmenting the existing manpower of civil administration, this includes 27 medics. They have been divided into teams of ten each and have already reported to their respective district collectors. A total of 1412 ex-servicemen have volunteered and will be deployed as per requirement.

Boosting the COVID infrastructure in Kashmir, the Indian Army is pooling in the oxygen cylinders available with Army establishments to be made available to civil administration to be used in augmenting the existing oxygen supply of Kashmir. Ration and COVID kits are also being distributed among the people belonging to humble backgrounds and people from Gurjar /Bakharwal community in forward areas. The army medics have also augmented the UT government efforts for vaccination drive in forward areas.

The Army is regularly organising Khairiyat Patrols, where local Army establishments are sending patrols along with nursing assistants to the villages & distributing medicines, masks, sanitizers, PPE kits & other items, which are essential to fight the COVID pandemic. More than 50 such activities are taking place daily in Kashmir. This pandemic is a national challenge and all must jointly work to combat this challenge.

COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir

 Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday recorded 4,509 fresh COVID cases, taking the tally to 2,29,407, while 65 deaths in the past 24 hours pushed the toll 2,912 in the Union Territory, officials said.

Out of the fresh cases, 1,759 were from the Jammu division and 2,750 from the Kashmir division, they said.

The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest of 863 cases, followed by 621 in Jammu district and 377 in Baramulla district. The number of active cases has reached 51,542 in the Union Territory, while 1,74,953 patients have recovered so far, the officials said.

The death toll due to the disease rose to 2,912 as 65 fresh fatalities -- 46 in the Jammu region and 19 in the Kashmir valley -- were reported in the past 24 hours.

(With PTI inputs)