Coronavirus: 24X7 control rooms in J-K's Doda; 250 surveillance teams constituted

In the backdrop of the threat from Coronavirus, the Doda district administration in Jammu and Kashmir is running 24X7 control rooms and is providing training to the village heads to create awareness and teach people about the precautions that need to be taken. This comes after an individual in the Union Territory of J&K had tested positive for Coronavirus on March 10.

District Development Commissioner (DDC) Dr. Sagar D Doifode on Tuesday said that the administrative machinery is ready to deal with any situation and is following the standard operating procedure laid down by the Department of Health, Government of India and J-K administration.

"We have set up 24X7 control rooms, in which there are doctors, paramedics, and administrative staff. There are also toll-free numbers to receive information about those who have recently been on foreign travel," Doifode said.

Furthermore, around 705 people have been put into surveillance and over 500 people have been quarantined. Doifode said that around 250 surveillance teams have also been constituted in the district to reach out to the people and raise awareness about the deadly coronavirus.

"Every team has three members, with one person from the medical department. The team will go on the ground and counsel those who have travelled abroad or inquire about people with symptoms," Doifode said.

"We are also holding training for Panchs and Sarpanchs on the issue because they are the local leaders and are close to the public," he added.

Meanwhile, the health ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 50, adding the rest are being retested for confirmation. If the fresh cases declared by the state governments are taken into account, the figure goes up to 61.

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Novel Coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest reports, Coronavirus has claimed more than 4,200 lives across the globe and has infected over 110,000 people around the world since it first broke out in December 2019. While most of the cases are from Hubei province of China and the city of Wuhan (the epicentre of the outbreak), other countries including Iran, Italy, Japan, and the Philippines have also reported deaths related to novel Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the COVID-19 'pandemic threat is real' as the virus continues to spread worldwide. First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across 100 countries since December 2019. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed the virus as COVID-19.

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